17:20

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

20a
The one with a perverse heart finds no good,

20b
and he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.

The underlined parallel parts show the connection between a person’s inner crookedness and the deceitful words that he speaks. The parallel parts in bold print describe the results of his deceitful thoughts and words.

The first line describes the good results that he does not experience. The second line describes the bad results that he does experience. This repetition, using negative and positive terms, emphasizes the certainty of his doom.

17:20a

The one with a perverse heart: In Hebrew, this phrase refers to someone whose heart/mind or inner being is morally defective, crooked, or twisted. See how you translated the same phrase in 11:20a.

finds no good: In Hebrew, this phrase is literally “does not find good.” It means “is not successful.” The positive Hebrew phrase “finds good” occurs in 16:20a.

Another way to translate this line is:

A person with a crooked heart/mind will never succeed.

17:20b

he whose tongue is deceitful: This phrase is a figure of speech. It represents a person who has turned away from telling the truth. In other words, he tells lies. Some languages may have an idiom that expresses this meaning. For example:

a double-tongued man (New American Bible)

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

one who is deceitful in speech (NET Bible)
-or-
telling lies (Contemporary English Version)

falls into trouble: This phrase indicates here that the person who tells lies will encounter misfortune or distress. Another way to translate this phrase is:

will get into trouble (New Century Version)

General Comment on 17:20a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to reorder the parallel parts. For example:

Anyone who thinks and speaks evil can expect to find nothing good—only disaster. (Good News Translation)

See also 17:20a–b (combined/reordered) in the Display.

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