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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 11:3 - 11:3
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3 The integrity of the upright guideth them;
But the perverseness of the ungodly destroyeth them.
To the upright, יְשָׁרִים, who keep the line of rectitude without turning aside therefrom into devious paths (Psa 125:4.), stand opposed (as at Pro 2:21.) the ungodly (faithless), בֹּגְדִים, who conceal (from בָּגַד, to cover, whence בֶּגֶד = כֲּסוּת) malicious thoughts and plans. And the contrast of תֻּמָּה, integrity = unreserved loving submission, is סֶלֶף, a word peculiar to the Solomonic Mashal, with its verb סִלֵּף (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 Psa 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 סְלַף in the meaning to distort, to turn the wrong way (σκολιοῦν, στρεβλοῦν), Pro 10:10, and Est 6:10, where, in the second Targum, פּוּמֵהּ אִסְתְּלִף 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 Exo 23:8 they translate (Syr.) mhapêk (it, the gift of bribery, perverts) and (Arab.) tazyf (= תְּזַיֵּף, it falsifies). Fl. also, who at Pro 15:4 remarks, “סֶלֶף, from סָלַף, 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 סֶלֶף 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), Pro 22:12 (cf. Exo 23:8), Pro 19:3, thus perversitas, perversity; but this as contrary to truth and rectitude (opp. תֻּמָּה), “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 (וְשָׁדָּם) is an error of transcription; the Kerı̂ has the proper correction, יְשָׁדֵּם = יְשָׁדְדֵם, Jer 5:6. Regarding שָׁדַד (whence שַׁדַּי), which, from its root-signification of making close and fast, denotes violence and destruction, vid., under Gen 17.