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Selected Verse: Proverbs 2:20 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Pr 2:20 |
King James |
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| That . . . way of good--that is, Such is the object of these warnings. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| The previous picture of shame and sin is brought before the disciple as an incentive to a better course. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
With למען there commences a new section, coordinating itself with the להצּילך ("to deliver thee") of Pro 2:12, Pro 2:16, unfolding that which wisdom accomplishes as a preserver and guide:
20 So that thou walkest in the good way,
And keepest the right paths.
21 For the upright shall inhabit the land,
And the innocent shall remain in it.
22 But the godless are cut off out the land,
And the faithless are rooted out of it.
Wisdom - thus the connection - will keep thee, so that thou shalt not fall under the seductions of man or of woman; keep, in order that thou... למען (from מען = מענה, tendency, purpose) refers to the intention and object of the protecting wisdom. To the two negative designations of design there follows, as the third and last, a positive one. טובים (contrast to רעים, Pro 14:19) is here used in a general ethical sense: the good (Guten, not Gtigen, the kind). שׁמר, with the object of the way, may in another connection also mean to keep oneself from, cavere ab (Psa 17:4); here it means: carefully to keep in it. The promise of Pro 2:21 is the same as in the Mashal Psa 37:9, Psa 37:11, Psa 37:22; cf. Pro 10:30. ארץ is Canaan, or the land which God promised to the patriarchs, and in which He planted Israel, whom He had brought out of Egypt; not the earth, as Mat 5:5, according to the extended, unlimited N.T. circle of vision. יוּתרוּ (Milel) is erroneously explained by Schultens: funiculis bene firmis irroborabunt in terra. The verb יתר, Arab. watar, signifies to yoke (whence יתר, a cord, rope), then intrans. to be stretched out in length, to be hanging over (vid., Fleischer on Job 30:11); whence יתר, residue, Zep 2:9, and after which the lxx here renders ὑπολειφθήσονται, and Jerome permanebunt. In 22b the old translators render יסּחוּ as the fut. of the pass. נסּח, Deu 28:63; but in this case it would be ינּסחוּ. The form יסּחוּ, pointed יסּחוּ, might be the Niph. of סחח, but סחח can neither be taken as one with נסח, of the same meaning, nor with Hitzig is it to be vocalized יסּחוּ (Hoph. of נסח); nor, with Bttcher (1100, p. 453), is יסּחוּ to be regarded as a veritable fut. Niph. יסּחוּ is, as at Pro 15:25; Psa 52:7, active: evellant; and this, with the subj. remaining indefinite (for which J. H. Michaelis refers to Hos 12:9), is equivalent to evellentur. This indefinite "they" or "one" ("man"), Fleischer remarks, can even be used of God, as here and Job 7:3 - a thing which is common in Persian, where e.g., the expression rendered hominem ex pulvere fecerunt is used instead of the fuller form, which would be rendered homo a Deo ex pulvere factus est. בּוגדים bears (as בּגד proves) the primary meaning of concealed, i.e., malicious (treacherous and rapacious, Isa 33:1), and then faithless men.
(Note: Similar is the relation in Arab. of labbasa to libâs (לבוּשׁ); it means to make a thing unknown by covering it; whence telbı̂s, deceit, mulebbis, a falsifier.) |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| That - This depends upon Pro 2:11, and is mentioned as another happy fruit of wisdom. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| That thou mayest mark - Therefore thou shalt walk. |
1 Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
9 And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
25 The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.
63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
9 Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.
11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
30 The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.
22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
19 The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: