PROV 17:20 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) ⇔ The person with twisted values won’t find goodness,
⇔ ≈ and the one with a perverse tongue will descend into disaster.

Key: khaki:verbs, red:negative.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX ὁ δὲ σκληροκάρδιος οὐ συναντᾷ ἀγαθοῖς· ἀνὴρ εὐμετάβολος γλώσσῃ ἐμπεσεῖται εἰς κακὰ,
(ho de sklaʸrokardios ou sunanta agathois; anaʸr eumetabolos glōssaʸ empeseitai eis kaka, )

BrTr and the hard-hearted man [fn]comes not in for good. A man of a changeful tongue will fall into mischiefs;

ULT One crooked of heart will not find goodness,
⇔ and one who is turned away in his tongue will fall into evil.

UST People who think deceitfully will not experience good things,
⇔ and bad things will happen to people who speak deceitfully.

OEB No OEB PROV book available

WEBBE One who has a perverse heart doesn’t find prosperity,
⇔ and one who has a deceitful tongue falls into trouble.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET The one who has a perverse heart does not find good,
⇔ and the one who is deceitful in speech falls into trouble.

LSV The perverse of heart does not find good,
And the [one] turned in his tongue falls into evil.

FBV People with warped minds don't succeed; those who tell lies get into trouble.

T4T ⇔ Those who ◄have perverse minds/are always thinking about doing evil things► will not prosper,
⇔ and disasters will happen to those who always tell lies.

LEB • He who is crooked of heart[fn] will not find goodness, and he who is perverse, by his tongue he will fall into calamity.

17:? Or “mind”

BBE Nothing good comes to him whose heart is fixed on evil purposes: and he who has an evil tongue will come to trouble.

Moff A false heart never comes to any good;
⇔ a false tongue comes to grief.
¶ 

JPS He that hath a froward heart findeth no good; and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into evil.

ASV He that hath a wayward heart findeth no good;
⇔ And he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.

DRA He that is of a perverse heart, shall not find good: and he that perverteth his tongue, shall fall into evil.

YLT The perverse of heart findeth not good, And the turned in his tongue falleth into evil.

Drby He that hath a perverse heart findeth no good; and he that shifteth about with his tongue falleth into evil.

RV He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.
(He that hath/has a froward/ornery_or_disobedient heart findeth/finds no good: and he that hath/has a perverse tongue falleth into mischief. )

SLT The perverse of heart shall not find good: and he turning about with his tongue shall fall into evil.

Wbstr He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.

KJB-1769 He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.[fn]
(He that hath/has a froward/ornery_or_disobedient heart findeth/finds no good: and he that hath/has a perverse tongue falleth into mischief. )

17.20 He that hath a froward…: Heb. The froward of heart

KJB-1611 [fn]He that hath a froward heart, findeth no good, and he that hath a peruerse tongue, falleth into mischiefe.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

17:20 Heb. the froward of heart.

Bshps Who so hath a frowarde heart, obteyneth no good: and he that hath a double tongue, shall fall into mischiefe.
(Whoso/Whoever hath/has a froward/ornery_or_disobedient heart, obteyneth no good: and he that hath/has a double tongue, shall fall into mischief.)

Gnva The froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a naughtie tongue, shall fall into euill.
(The froward/ornery_or_disobedient heart findeth/finds no good: and he that hath/has a naught/nothingie tongue, shall fall into evil. )

Cvdl Who so hath a frowarde herte, opteyneth no good: and he yt hath an ouerthwarte tonge, shal fall into myschefe.
(Whoso/Whoever hath/has a froward/ornery_or_disobedient heart, obtaineth/obtains no good: and he it hath/has an overthwarte tongue, shall fall into mischief.)

Wycl He that is of weiward herte, schal not fynde good; and he that turneth the tunge, schal falle in to yuel.
(He that is of wayward heart, shall not find good; and he that turneth the tongue, shall fall in to evil.)

Luth Ein verkehrt Herz findet nichts Gutes, und der verkehrter Zunge ist, wird in Unglück fallen.
(A wrong heart finds nothing goodness/good_(person), and the/of_the wrong tongue is, becomes in accident/misfortune/disaster fall/drop.)

ClVg Qui perversi cordis est non inveniet bonum, et qui vertit linguam incidet in malum.
(Who perversi of_the_heart it_is not/no will_find good, and who/which turns tongue/language will_fall in/into/on evil. )

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 10:1–22:16: This is the main collection of Solomon’s proverbs

This section is the main collection of Solomon’s proverbs. It has a very different structure from the longer poetic lectures of chapters 1–9. It consists mostly of individual couplets (two-line poems) that are each one verse in length. With the exception of the title (10:1a), paragraph breaks will not be indicated in the Notes or Display. You may of course choose to start each proverb as a separate paragraph in your translation.

In chapters 10–15, most of these one-verse couplets express a contrast between the two lines. One of the more common contrasts is between the righteous/wise and the wicked/foolish and the different consequences of their conduct.

In chapters 16:1–22:16, more topics are discussed. There is more emphasis on the role of the king and other leaders. In these chapters, there are few proverbs with contrasting lines. Some of the parallel lines are similar in meaning. More frequently, the second line adds to what the first line says or gives an example. Most of the verses have no obvious connection with the previous or following proverbs.UBS (page 214), Fox (page 509), McKane (page 413). Many scholars, including McKane, point out that there are some topical groupings as well as poetic connections. These include the repetition of certain words or sounds. This observation does not deny the individual nature of most of the proverbs in this Section.

Two of the types of proverbs in this section are not found in chapters 1–9. One type contains logical reasoning from the lesser to the greater. See 11:31 for a list of these proverbs. There are also several varieties of complex “better than” proverbs. The most common have a contrasting situation in each line (see 12:9). For other varieties, see 16:16, 19:1, and 21:9.

Many of the proverbs in this section refer to categories of people who share a common trait. For example, they refer to the righteous, the wise, the poor, and the lazy. In Hebrew, some verses use singular forms to refer to these groups of people. Other verses use plural forms. Still others use a combination of singular and plural. See the note on 10:30a–b for one example. For most of these verses, the Notes will not comment on the difference between singular and plural forms. Use a natural way in your language to refer to one or more people who are in the same category.

Many of the proverbs in this section express a general principle in abstract terms. They are not addressed specifically to the readers. For example, 10:2a–b says:

Ill-gotten treasures are of no value,

but righteousness delivers from death.

However, the author intended his readers to understand these proverbs as advice that they should follow. In some languages, authors or speakers give advice more directly, using pronouns such as you^(sing), you^(plur), we^(dual), or we^(incl). See the note on 10:2 for translation suggestions.

Some other headings for this section are:

Proverbs of Solomon (NIV)

The Wise Words of Solomon (NCV)

Here are many wise things that Solomon said

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 finds no good,

A person who has a twisted/crooked mind will never succeed.
If your^(sing) heart/mind is evil, your life will certainly not improve.

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.

17:20a–b

(combined/reordered)

If you^(sing) are deceitful/crooked in your thoughts and words, your life will be filled with failure, never success.

17:20b

and he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.

The person who has a crooked/deceitful tongue will surely find disaster.
If you^(sing) tell lies, you will experience only trouble/misfortune.

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 (NAB)

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

one who is deceitful in speech (NET)

telling lies (CEV)

falls into trouble: This phrase indicates here that the person who tells lies will encounter misfortune or distress.UBS (page 376). Another way to translate this phrase is:

will get into trouble (NCV)

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. (GNT)

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

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / genericnoun

עִקֶּשׁ־לֵ֭ב & וְ⁠נֶהְפָּ֥ךְ בִּ֝⁠לְשׁוֹנ֗⁠וֹ

crooked_of mind & and,[one_who_is]_perverted in,his_of,tongue

One crooked of heart, one who is turned away, and his refer to types of people and things in general, not specific people. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use more natural expressions. Alternate translation: “Any person crooked of heart … and any person who is turned away in his tongue”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

עִקֶּשׁ־לֵ֭ב

crooked_of mind

See how you translated crooked of heart in [11:20](../11/20.md).

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

לֹ֣א יִמְצָא־ט֑וֹב

not find good

Here Solomon refers to someone experiencing goodness as if goodness were an object that a person can find by searching for it. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “will not experience goodness”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

ט֑וֹב & בְּ⁠רָעָֽה

good & in,trouble

See how you translated the abstract nouns goodness in [13:21](../13/21.md) and evil in [1:16](../01/16.md).

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

וְ⁠נֶהְפָּ֥ךְ בִּ֝⁠לְשׁוֹנ֗⁠וֹ

and,[one_who_is]_perverted in,his_of,tongue

Here Solomon refers to a person who speaks deceitfully as if that person is turned away in his tongue. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “and one who speaks perversely” or “and one who speaks wickedly”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

יִפּ֥וֹל בְּ⁠רָעָֽה

fall in,trouble