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The next three proverbs treat of honesty, discretion, and innocence or dove-like simplicity:

1 Deceitful balances are an abomination to Jahve;

But a full weight is His delight.

The very same proverb, with slightly varied expression, is found in Proverbs 20:23; and other such like proverbs, in condemnation of false and in approbation of true balances, are found, Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 16:11; similar predicates, but connected with other subjects, are found at Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 15:8. “An abomination to Jahve” is an expression we have already twice met with in the introduction, Proverbs 3:32; Proverbs 6:16, cf. Proverbs 8:7; תּועבה is, like תּועה , a participial noun, in which the active conception of abhorring is transferred to the action accomplished. רצון is in post-biblical Hebr. the designation of the arbitrium and the voluntas ; but here רצונו signifies not that which God wishes, but that which He delights in having. “ מרמה (here for the first time in Proverbs), from רמה , the Piel of which means (Proverbs 26:19) aliquem dolo et fraude petere . אבן , like the Pers. sanak , sanakh , Arab. ṣajat , a stone for weight; and finally, without any reference to its root signification, like Zechariah 5:8, אבן העופרת , a leaden weight, as when we say: a horseshoe of gold, a chess-man of ivory.”

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Now follows the Solomonic “Pride goeth before a fall.”

There cometh arrogance, so also cometh shame;

But with the humble is wisdom.

Interpreted according to the Hebr.: if the former has come, so immediately also comes the latter. The general truth as to the causal connection of the two is conceived of historically; the fact, confirmed by many events, is represented in the form of a single occurrence as a warning example; the preterites are like the Greek aoristi gnomici ( vid., p. 32); and the perf., with the fut. consec. following, is the expression of the immediate and almost simultaneous consequence ( vid., at Habakkuk 3:10): has haughtiness ( זדון after the form לצון , from זיד , to boil, to run over) appeared, then immediately also disgrace appeared, in which the arrogant behaviour is overwhelmed. The harmony of the sound of the Hebr. זדון and קלון cannot be reproduced in German [nor in English]; Hitzig and Ewald try to do so, but such a quid pro quo as “ Kommt Unglimpf kommt an ihn Schimpf ” [there comes arrogance, there comes to him disgrace] is not a translation, but a distortion of the text. If, now, the antithesis says that with the humble is wisdom, wisdom is meant which avoids such disgrace as arrogance draws along with it; for the צנוּע thinks not more highly of himself than he ought to think (R. צן , subsidere, demitti , Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitsch. xxv. 185).

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3 The integrity of the upright guideth them;

But the perverseness of the ungodly destroyeth them.

To the upright, ישׁרים , who keep the line of rectitude without turning aside therefrom into devious paths (Psalms 125:4.), stand opposed (as at Proverbs 2:21.) the ungodly (faithless), בּגדים , who conceal (from בּגד , to cover, whence בּגד = כּסוּת ) malicious thoughts and plans. And the contrast of תּמּה , integrity = unreserved loving submission, is סלף , a word peculiar to the Solomonic Mashal, with its verb סלּף ( vid., p. 32). Hitzig explains it by the Arab. saraf , to step out, to tread over; and Ewald by lafat , to turn, to turn about (“treacherous, false step”), both of which are improbable. Schultens compares salaf in the meaning to smear (R. לף , לב , ἀλείφειν ; cf. regarding such secondary formations with ש preceding, Hupfeld on Psalms 5:7), and translates here, lubricitas . But this rendering is scarcely admissible. It has against it lexical tradition (Menahem: מוטה , wavering; Perchon: זיוף , falsifying; Kimchi: עוות , misrepresentation, according to which the Graec. Venet. σκολιότης ), as well as the methodical comparison of the words. The Syriac has not this verbal stem, but the Targum has סלף in the meaning to distort, to turn the wrong way ( σκολιοῦν , στρεβλοῦν ), Proverbs 10:10, and Esther 6:10, where, in the second Targum, פּוּמהּ אסתּלף means “his mouth was crooked.” With justice, therefore, Gesenius in his Thesaurus has decided in favour of the fundamental idea pervertere , from which also the Peshito and Saadia proceed; for in Exodus 23:8 they translate (Syr.) mhapêk (it, the gift of bribery, perverts) and (Arab.) tazyf (= תּזיּף , it falsifies). Fl. also, who at Proverbs 15:4 remarks, “ סלף , from סלף , to stir up, to turn over, so that the lowermost becomes the uppermost,” gives the preference to this primary idea, in view of the Arab. salaf , invertere terram conserendi causa . It is moreover confirmed by salaf , praecedere , which is pervertere modified to praevertere . But how does סלף mean perversio (Theod. ὑποσκελισμός ), in the sense of the overthrow prepared for thy neighbour? The parallels demand the sense of a condition peculiar to the word and conduct of the godless (treacherous), Proverbs 22:12 (cf. Exodus 23:8), Proverbs 19:3, thus perversitas , perversity; but this as contrary to truth and rectitude (opp. תּמּה ), “perverseness,” as we have translated it, for we understand by it want of rectitude (dishonesty) and untruthfulness. While the sincerity of the upright conducts them, and, so to say, forms their salvus conductus , which guards them against the danger of erring and of hostile assault, the perverseness of the treacherous destroys them; for the disfiguring of truth avenges itself against them, and they experience the reverse of the proverb, “ das Ehrlich währt am längsten ” (honesty endures the longest). The Chethı̂b ושׁדם ( ושׁדּם ) is an error of transcription; the Kerı̂ has the proper correction, ישׁדּם = ישׁדדם , Jeremiah 5:6. Regarding שׁדד (whence שׁדּי ), which, from its root-signification of making close and fast, denotes violence and destruction, vid., under Gen 17.

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Three proverbs in praise of צדקה :

4 Possessions are of no profit in the day of wrath;

But righteousness delivereth from death.

That which is new here, is only that possessions and goods ( vid., regarding הון , p. 63) are destitute of all value in the day of the μέλλουσα ὀργή ; for יום עברה , the day of wrath breaking through the limits (of long-suffering), has the same meaning as in the prophets; and such prophetic words as Isaiah 10:3; Zephaniah 1:18, and, almost in the same words, Ezekiel 7:19, are altogether similar to this proverb. The lxx, which translates ἐν ήμέρᾳ ἐπαγωγῆς , harmonizes in expression with Sir. 5:8, cf. 2:2. Theodotion translates איד , Proverbs 27:10, by ἐπαγωγή (providence, fate).

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5 The righteousness of the blameless smootheth his way,

And by his own wickedness doth the wicked fall.

With the תּמים (cf. Proverbs 1:12), formed after the passive, more than with תּם , is connected the idea of the perfected, but more in the negative sense of moral spotlessness than of moral perfection. The rectitude of a man who seeks to keep his conscience and his character pure, maketh smooth ( ישּׁר , as Proverbs 3:6, not of the straightness of the line, but of the surface, evenness) his life's path, so that he can pursue his aim without stumbling and hindrance, and swerving from the direct way; while, on the contrary, the godless comes to ruin by his godlessness - that by which he seeks to forward his interests, and to make a way for himself, becomes his destruction.

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6 The rectitude of the upright saveth them,

And in their own covetousness are the faithless taken.

The integrity of those who go straight forward and straight through, without permitting themselves to turn aside on crooked ways, delivers them from the snares which are laid for them, the dangers they encounter; while, on the contrary, the faithless, though they mask their intentions ever so cunningly, are ensnared in their passionate covetousness: the mask is removed, they are convicted, and are caught and lost. Regarding הוּה , abyss, overthrow, also stumbling against anything = covetousness, vid., at Proverbs 10:3, and under Psalms 5:10. The form of the expression 6b follows the scheme, “in the image of God created He man,” Genesis 9:6. The subject is to be taken from the genitive, as is marked by the accentuation, for it gives Mugrash to the וּבהוּת , as if it were the principal form, for וּבהוּה .

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Three proverbs regarding destruction and salvation:

7 When a godless man dies, his hope cometh to nought,

And the expectation of those who stand in fulness of strength is destroyed.

We have already remarked in the Introduction that אדם is a favourite word of the Chokma, and the terminological distinction of different classes and properties of men ( vid., pp. 40, 42); we read, Proverbs 6:12, אדם בּליּעל , and here, as also Job 20:29; Job 27:13, אדם רשׁע , cf. Proverbs 21:29, אישׁ רשׁע , but generally only רשׁע is used. A godless man, to whom earthly possessions and pleasure and honour are the highest good, and to whom no means are too base, in order that he may appease this his threefold passion, rocks himself in unbounded and measureless hopes; but with his death, his hope, i.e., all that he hoped for, comes to nought. The lxx translate τελευτήσαντος ἀνδρὸς δικαίου οὐκ ὄλλυται ἐλπίς , which is the converse of that which is here said, 7a: the hope of the righteous expects its fulfilment beyond the grave. The lxx further translate, τὸ δὲ καύχημα ( וּתהלּת ) τῶν ἀσεβῶν ὄλλυται ; but the distich in the Hebr. text is not an antithetic one, and whether אונים may signify the wicked (thus also the Syr., Targ., Venet., and Luther), if we regard it as a brachyology for אנשׁי אונים , or as the plur. of an adj. און , after the form טוב (Elazar b. Jacob in Kimchi), or wickedness (Zöckler, with Hitzig, “the wicked expectation”), is very questionable. Yet more improbable is Malbim's (with Rashi's) rendering of this אונים , after Genesis 49:3; Psalms 78:51, and the Targ. on Job 18:12, of the children of the deceased; children gignuntur ex robore virili , but are not themselves the robur virile . But while אונים is nowhere the plur. of און fo . in its ethical signification, it certainly means in Psalms 78:51, as the plur. of און , manly strength, and in Isaiah 40:26, Isaiah 40:29 the fulness of strength generally, and once, in Hosea 9:4, as plur. of און in its physical signification, derived from its root-meaning anhelitus (Genesis 35:18, cf. Habakkuk 3:7), deep sorrow (a heightening of the און , Deuteronomy 26:14). This latter signification has also been adopted: Jerome, expectatio solicitorum ; Bertheau, “the expectation of the sorrowing;” Ewald, ”continuance of sorrow;” but the meaning of this in this connection is so obscure, that one must question the translators what its import is. Therefore we adhere to the other rendering, “fulness of strength,” and interpret אונים as the opposite of אין אונים , Isaiah 40:29, for it signifies, per metonymiam abstracti pro concr., those who are full of strength; and we gain the meaning that there is a sudden end to the expectation of those who are in full strength, and build their prospects thereon. The two synonymous lines complete themselves, in so far as אונים gains by אדם רשׁע the associated idea of self-confidence, and the second strengthens the thought of the first by the transition of the expression from the fut. to the preterite (Fl.). ותוחלת has, for the most part in recent impressions, the Mugrash; the correct accentuation, according to codices and old impressions, is ותוחלת אונים ( vid., Baer's Torath Emeth, p. 10, §4).

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8 The righteous is delivered from trouble,

And the godless comes in his stead.

The succession of the tenses gives the same meaning as when, periodizing, we say: while the one is delivered, the other, on the contrary, falls before the same danger. נחלץ ( vid., under Isaiah 58:11) followed by the historical tense, the expression of the principal fact, is the perfect. The statement here made clothes itself after the manner of a parable in the form of history. It is true there are not wanting experiences of an opposite kind (from that here stated), because divine justice manifests itself in this world only as a prelude, but not perfectly and finally; but the poet considers this, that as a rule destruction falls upon the godless, which the righteous with the help of God escapes; and this he realizes as a moral motive. In itself תּחתּיו may also have only the meaning of the exchange of places, but the lxx translate αντ ̓ αὐτοῦ , and thus in the sense of representation the proverb appears to be understood in connection with Proverbs 21:18 (cf. the prophetico-historical application, Isaiah 43:4). The idea of atonement has, however, no application here, for the essence of atonement consists in the offering up of an innocent one in the room of the guilty, and its force lies in the offering up of self; the meaning is only, that if the divinely-ordained linking together of cause and effect in the realms of nature and of history brings with it evil, this brings to the godless destruction, while it opens the way of deliverance for the righteous, so that the godless becomes for the righteous the כּפר , or, as we might say in a figure of similar import, the lightning conductor.

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