Verses 5-6 are further sayings about the righteous and the wicked.

“A righteous man hates falsehood”: “A righteous man” is an upright or honest person. “Hates” means to have an intense dislike for (see 1.22). “Falsehood” renders an expression that is literally “a word of falsehood,” meaning a deceitful word or a lie. For a translation model see Good News Translation.

“But a wicked man acts shamefully and disgracefully”: The action of the “wicked” in line 2 is not in clear contrast with that of the “righteous” in line 1. “Shamefully and disgracefully” are words whose meanings are much the same in this context. “Shamefully” renders a word meaning “to give off a bad smell, to stink.” Both words mean to act in a way that is strongly disapproved and causes dishonor and offense. New English Bible says “the doings of the wicked are foul and deceitful.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .