PROV 1:16 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:8–19: First lesson: Avoid evil companions

This first lesson may be summarized as follows:

Introduction: Pay attention to your parents’ advice, because it will improve your character (1:8–9).
Lesson: If robbers try to persuade you to do evil (1:10–14), refuse to join them (1:15), because they will destroy their own lives (1:16–18).
Conclusion: People who are greedy and try to obtain wealth illegally will die (1:19).This outline is based on “The Design of Lecture 1” in Fox (page 92).

Some other headings for this section are:

Warnings against Bad Friends (CEV)

Advice to a young man to not be tempted by evil people

Paragraph 1:15–19

In this paragraph, the father repeats his advice to the son to reject the sinners’ invitation (1:15). He then gives two reasons: (a) Criminals lead evil lives (1:16). (b) They are so foolish they will end up destroying themselves (1:17–18). The paragraph ends with a summary statement (1:19).

1:16

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^16aFor their feet run to evil,

^16band they are swift to shed blood.

In this set of parallel lines, “shed blood” is a specific instance of “evil.” The CEV provides another way to make this relationship clear. It has:

They are in a big hurry to commit some crime, perhaps even murder.

1:16a

For their feet run to evil,

For they are eager to do bad things,
The reason is, they are always looking for a chance to harm someone
because they cannot wait to cause disaster/injury.

1:16b

and they are swift to shed blood.

and they are even ready to commit murder.
and even to cause death.
They are in a hurry to cause someone to die.

1:16a–b

For: The Hebrew conjunction that the BSB translates as For introduces the first reason why the young man should not follow the lifestyle of criminals. It is because they lead a wicked life. See the summary for Paragraph 1:15–19 above.

In some languages, it may be more natural to introduce this reason without a specific conjunction. For example:

They rush to commit evil deeds. (NLT)

Introduce this reason in a natural way in your language.

their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood: The phrase their feet is a figure of speech (synecdoche) in which a part (their feet) represents the whole person. The phrase shed blood is also a figurative expression that refers in this context to murder.

The words run and swift indicate that these criminals are eager to commit crimes, not that they literally run or move swiftly.The NET footnote points out that “run” is a metonymy of association for eagerness. Another way to express this meaning is:

They are eager to do evil and are quick to kill. (NCV)

They can’t wait to do something bad. They’re always ready to kill. (GNT)

evil…shed blood: The writer probably intended both of these terms to be understood with a double meaning. The Hebrew word raʿ, which is translated by the BSB as evil, can be understood as either “wickedness” (see the NCV or the GNT above) or “harm/disaster.” For example:

they are eager to inflict harm (NET)

Although the criminals intend to do something wicked and harm someone else (1:11), their actions will result in disaster for themselves (1:18). Verse 1:11 also says that they intend to shed the blood of an innocent person. By omitting the word “innocent” here in 1:16, the writer implies that the criminals will end up being killed themselves. This implied meaning is not made explicit until 1:18.

Translators should try to maintain this ambiguity if possible by not specifying the object of the criminals’ actions. If your language requires that an object be made explicit, it is recommended that you use an expression that could refer to either the criminals or their victims. For example:

They are eager to harm someone. They cannot wait for someone to be killed.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

כִּ֣י

that/for/because/then/when

For here indicates that what follows is a reason for the commands in the previous verse. Use a connector in your language that makes it clear that what follows is a reason for what came before. Alternate translation: “Do not walk with them because”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche

רַ֭גְלֵי⁠הֶם & יָר֑וּצוּ

feet_of,their & run

Here, “feet” represents the whole person. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression from your culture or express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “they run”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

רַ֭גְלֵי⁠הֶם לָ⁠רַ֣ע יָר֑וּצוּ

feet_of,their to,evil run

Here Solomon speaks of how eager the sinners are to do evil as if their feet were running to do it. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “they are quick to do evil”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

לִ⁠שְׁפָּךְ־דָּֽם

to,shed blood

The phrase pour out blood refers to violently murdering people, which usually causes blood to come out of the people who are murdered. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternative translation: “to kill others”

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.

OET interlinear PROV 1:16