SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 11:20

11:20

Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:

I 20a
The LORD detests men of perverse heart

20b but the blameless in their walk are His delight.

11:20a

The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD: For the meaning of the expression are an abomination, see the note on 11:1a, where the same Hebrew word is used and was also translated as “abomination.”

The perverse: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as perverse was also used in 2:15a, where the Berean Standard Bible translated it as “crooked.” It refers to someone whose heart/mind or inner being is morally defective, crooked, or twisted. It is very similar in meaning to the different Hebrew word in 3:32a that the Berean Standard Bible translates there as “perverse.” Some other ways to translate this line are:

Crooked minds are an abomination to the Lord (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Devious people are disgusting to the Lord (God’s Word)

11:20b

but the blameless in their walk are His delight: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as delight is the same word that it also translates as “delight” in 11:1b. The phrase the blameless in their walk refers to the people who persist in doing what is right. The good character and actions of such people are not spoiled by evil influences (also see the note on 11:5a). Another way to translate this line is:

but those of blameless ways are his delight (English Standard Version)

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Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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