10:29

This proverb contrasts the different relationships that the LORD has toward different groups of people. He is a refuge for those who are righteous, but he destroys those who are evil. The Revised English Bible has been used as the source line, because it follows the recommended interpretations.

29a
The Lord is a refuge for the blameless, (Revised English Bible)

29b but he brings destruction on evildoers. (Revised English Bible)

10:29a

(Revised English Bible) The Lord is a refuge for the blameless: This clause has one or more figures of speech. Scholars interpret the structure of this clause and the meaning of these figures of speech in many different ways. Here are the two main ways:

(1) The subject of this clause is the Lord . This clause is a metaphor that compares the Lord to a refuge for people who are blameless. The similarity is that the Lord and a refuge both protect people. For example:

The Lord is a stronghold to him whose way is upright (Revised Standard Version)

(2) The subject of this clause is “The way of the LORD.” This phrase is a metonymy that refers either to (a) the conduct or rule of the LORD or (b) the conduct that the LORD requires people to follow. The whole clause is a metaphor that compares “The way of the LORD” to “a refuge” for people who are “blameless.” With this interpretation, either (a) the LORD’s conduct/rule or (b) the conduct that the LORD requires people to follow are a refuge that protects people. For example:

The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless (English Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), which is in the Display. The phrase “the way of the LORD” occurs nowhere else in Proverbs. Throughout the OT, it is the LORD himself (not “the way of the LORD”) who is compared to a refuge.

(Revised English Bible) refuge: The word refuge refers to a fortress or “stronghold” (New Revised Standard Version). It is a place in which a person can take refuge. This word is used figuratively here to describe the LORD’s protection.

(Revised English Bible) blameless: This word refers to a person who has integrity. People like this live a consistently good life. They do nothing that is worthy of blame. See the note on this word in 2:7b for more translation advice.

Some ways to translate the metaphor in this clause are:

• Keep the metaphor. For example:

The Lord is a stronghold to him whose way is upright (Revised Standard Version)

• Change the metaphor to a simile. For example:

The LORD is like a place of refuge that protects people who have integrity

• Translate the meaning of the metaphor without using a figure of speech. For example:

The Lord protects the upright (New Living Translation (1996))

10:29b

(Revised English Bible) but he brings destruction on evildoers: In Hebrew, this line is more literally “but destruction to evildoers” (Revised Standard Version). Some other ways to translate this line are:

but he destroys anyone who does wrong (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
but will ruin those who do evil (New Century Version)

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