19:3

In this verse, the second line describes a person’s unexpected reaction to his situation in the first line.

3a A man’s own folly subverts his way,

3b yet his heart rages against the LORD.

Instead of recognizing that his own foolishness is the cause of his life being ruined, he angrily blames the LORD.

In Hebrew, the emphasis is on a person’s own folly in 19:3a and on the LORD in 19:3b. One way to translate this emphasis is:

3a It is a person’s own foolishness that ruins his life,

3b but the LORD is the one whom he angrily blames.

19:3a

A man’s own folly subverts his way: Some other ways to translate this clause are:

One’s own folly leads to ruin (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
People ruin their lives by their own foolishness (New Living Translation (2004))

folly: The word folly refers to moral foolishness.

19:3b

yet his heart rages against the LORD: The phrase his heart is a figure of speech that represents the person referred to in 19:3a. It means that this person is furiously angry at the LORD. It is implied that he blames the LORD for the consequences of his own foolishness. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

but in their minds they blame the Lord (New Century Version)
-or-
but ⌊he blames⌋ the LORD ⌊for his bad situation⌋ , ⌊so⌋ he is extremely angry at him

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