This verse makes a clear contrast between the behavior of evildoers and those who avoid evil. The two lines are parallel in form.

“The way of the guilty is crooked”: As elsewhere in Proverbs, “The way” refers to a person’s style of life and conduct. The meaning of the Hebrew term rendered “the guilty” is disputed since it occurs only here in the Old Testament and the text is regarded as doubtful. As it stands the term is understood from an Arabic root to mean “bearing a burden” and hence “guilty.” The term in the next line that contrasts with it means “pure” or “righteous.” Some translations (New International Version and Good News Translation for instance) have “guilty” in this line and render the contrasting term in the next line as “the innocent.” Some others use a more general term here like “the criminal” (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible has “felon,” Contemporary English Version “crooks”). “Is crooked” continues the picture of the path (“. . . walk a crooked path” Good News Translation). English and some other languages use “crooked” as an idiom for behavior that is not right or fair; where this is not the case, however, translators should render the sense of people being underhanded or deceptive in their dealings. A number of English versions use the word “devious” here (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

“But the conduct of the pure is straight”: Revised Standard Version “pure” gives the literal meaning of the Hebrew term. Others take this to mean “innocent,” that is, free from evil or guilt. The term “straight” as applied to “conduct” means “upright” (New International Version) or “what is right” (Good News Translation).

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 .