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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 13:6 - 13:6
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6 Righteousness protecteth an upright walk,
And godlessness bringeth sinners to destruction.
The double thought is closely like that of Pro 11:5, but is peculiarly and almost enigmatically expressed. As there, צְדָקָה and רִשְׁעָה are meant of a twofold inner relation to God, which consists of a ruling influence over man's conduct and a determination of his walk. But instead of naming the persons of the תְּמִימֵי דֶּרֶךְ and חַטָּאִים as the objects of this influence, the proverb uses the abstract expression, but with personal reference, תָּם־דֶּרֶךְ and חַטָּאת dna תָּם, and designates in two words the connection of this twofold character with the principles of their conduct. What is meant by תִּצֹּר and תְּסַלֵּף proceeds from the contrasted relationship of the two (cf. Pro 22:12). נצר signifies observare, which is not suitable here, but also tueri (τηρεῖν), to which סִלֵּף (vid., at Pro 11:3, and in Gesen. Thesaurus), not so much in the sense of “to turn upside down,” pervertere (as Pro 11:3; Pro 23:8), as in the sense of “to overthrow,” evertere (as e.g., Pro 21:12), forms a fitting contrast. He who walks forth with an unfeigned and untroubled pure mind stands under the shield and the protection of righteousness (cf. with this prosopopoeia Psa 25:21), from which such a walk proceeds, and at the same time under the protection of God, to whom righteousness appertains, is well-pleasing. but he who in his conduct permits himself to be determined by sin, godlessness (cf. Zec 5:8) from which such a love for sin springs forth, brings to destruction; in other words: God, from whom the רשע, those of a perverse disposition, tear themselves away, makes the sin their snare by virtue of the inner connection established by Him between the רשׁעה and the destruction (Isa 9:17). In the lxx this 6th verse was originally wanting; the translation in the version of Aquila, in the Complut. and elsewhere, which the Syr. follows, falsely makes חטאת the subj.: τοὺς δὲ ἀσεβεῖς φαύλους ποιεῖ ἁμαρτία.