19:16

Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:

16a
He who keeps a commandment preserves his soul,

16b but he who is careless in his ways will die.

This proverb contrasts a person who obeys with one who shows contempt. It also contrasts the results. The result of obedience is preservation of life. The result of contempt is death.

19:16a

He who keeps a commandment preserves his soul: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as commandment is literally “a command.” It can refer to a particular command or to a group of commands or instructions as a whole. There are two ways to interpret this word:

(1) It refers ambiguously to any command or group of instructions. For example:

The one who obeys commandments guards his life (NET Bible)

(2) It refers specifically to the commands of God as found in the law. For example:

Keep God’s laws and you will live longer (Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). In Proverbs, the word “command(s)” occurs ten times. It refers explicitly seven times to the command(s) of the father to his son. It occurs ambiguously three times, including this verse. It never explicitly refers to God or the LORD.

In some languages, it may be necessary to identify the source of the commands or instructions in a general way. For example:

A person who follows the instructions ⌊that he has been given⌋
-or-
If you obey the commands ⌊that you have learned⌋
-or-
People who keep the commands ⌊that they are taught⌋

preserves his soul: The phrase the Berean Standard Bible translates as preserves his soul is literally “keeps his soul.” It means “preserves/protects his life or himself.” A person who follows the wise instructions that he has been taught will be more likely to live a full life. He will protect himself from activities and situations that are likely to lead to an early death.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

will live (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
keeps his life (English Standard Version)
-or-
keeps a person safe (Revised English Bible)
-or-
protect themselves (New Century Version)

The same phrase occurs in the second line of 16:17, which the Berean Standard Bible translates as “protects his life.” You may need to translate it differently here, because the type of parallelism and the immediate context are different.

19:16b

but: The conjunction but is supplied by the Berean Standard Bible. In Hebrew, there is no conjunction. You should indicate the contrast between the two lines in a way that is natural in your language.

he who is careless in his ways: There is a textual issue here with the phrase his ways :

(1) The Masoretic Text has “his ways.” For example:

the one who despises his ways (NET Bible)

(2) Some scholars think that the original phrase was “the word.” For example:

he who despises the word (Revised Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow option (1), along with most scholars. The proposed phrase “the word” makes a more exact parallel with “a command” in 19:16a. But the LXX and other ancient versions do not provide evidence that this phrase was in the original text.

There are three ways to interpret the phrase his ways :

(1) The phrase refers to the person’s own ways. He does not care whether he does right or wrong. He considers his own actions and their consequences to be of little importance. For example:

those who are heedless of their ways (New Revised Standard Version)

(2) The phrase refers to the ways of the LORD. The person described here ignores or disobeys the conduct that the LORD has commanded. By doing this, he considers the LORD’s ways to be of little importance. For example:

whoever despises the Lord ’s ways (God’s Word)

(3) The phrase refers to the commandments. The person described here ignores or disobeys the commandments. By doing this, he considers them to be of little importance. For example:

despising them leads to death (New Living Translation (2004))

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This interpretation better fits the word usage in Proverbs and the normal rules of pronoun reference.

In Proverbs, phrases such as “his way(s)” and “the way of…” refer to the way(s) of a person at least sixteen times. They refer once to the LORD (10:20). They do not refer elsewhere to “a command” or “the commandments.”

The pronoun his naturally refers back to “he who is careless.” In the Hebrew text, 19:16a has only “a command.” There is no noun such as “the LORD” for his to refer back to.

Some versions, such as the Berean Standard Bible, translate this phrase literally as his ways. But they do not specify a phrase such as “commands of the LORD” in 19:16a. Although such versions are technically ambiguous, they probably refer to the person’s own ways. Otherwise, they would break the normal rules of pronoun reference in English. These versions include the English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New Century Version, NET Bible, and New International Version.

will die: It is implied that the person will die prematurely. His death will probably be the result of his foolish and careless life. The way that he will die is not specified.

Some other ways to translate 19:16b are:

but he who is careless of conduct will die (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
A person who doesn’t care about his own character or actions will die.

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