21 Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous will be delivered.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
literally, "hand to hand." The meaning of which is, "Hand may plight faith to hand, men may confederate for evil, yet punishment shall come at last;" or "From hand to hand, from one generation to another, punishment shall descend on the evil doers."
Though hand join in hand - Let them confederate as they please, to support each other, justice will take care that they escape not punishment. The Hindoos sometimes ratify an engagement by one person laying his right hand on the hand of another - Ward.
(l) [Though] hand [join] in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.
(l) Though they make many friends, or think themselves sure, yet they will not escape.
Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished,.... Though they give the hand to one another, unite in their counsels, enter into combinations, confederacies, and strict alliances, and join all their force and strength together; or though with both hands, with all their might and main, endeavour to secure themselves, yet they shall not go unpunished. This may be exemplified in the kings of the earth, that will join each other, and gather their armies together, to make war against Christ; when they will be conquered, taken, and slain, Revelation 19:19. Jarchi interprets it, "from hand to hand", and explains it thus; from the hand of God into their hand shall come the reward of their work, and shall not go unpunished: to which may be added, even though there may be a succession of parents and children, and their substance may be handed down from the one to the other, yet at last just punishments will take place. To which is opposed,
but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered; these are the seed of the church in all successive ages; the seed that are accounted of by the Lord for a generation; particularly the remnant of the woman's seed, that keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ; against whom the dragon, the old serpent the devil, was wroth, and went forth to make war, in order utterly to destroy them; but they escaped his hands, were delivered from him, and preserved by the power and grace of God, as a seed to serve him, Revelation 12:17.
Joining together in sin shall not protect the sinners.
The combined power of the wicked cannot free them from just punishment, while the unaided children of the righteous find deliverance by reason of their pious relationship (Psalm 37:25-26).
21 Assuredly the hand to it the wicked remaineth not unpunished,
But the seed of the righteous is delivered.
The lxx render here, as Proverbs 16:5, where the יד ליד repeats itself, χειρὶ χεῖρας ἐμβαλὼν ἀδίκως, which is not to be understood, as Evagrius supposes, of one that can be bribed, but only of a violent person; the Syr. and Targ. have the same reference; but the subject is certainly רע, and a governing word, as נשׂא (2-Samuel 20:21), is wanting, to say nothing of the fact that the phrase "one hand against the other" would require the words to be יד ביד. Jerome and the Graec. Venet., without our being able, however, to see their meaning. The translation of the other Greek versions is not given. The Jewish interpreters offer nothing that is worthy, as e.g., Immanuel and Meri explain it by "immediately," which in the modern Hebr. would require מיּד, and besides is not here suitable. The Midrash connects with 21a the earnest warning that he who sins with the one hand and with the other does good, is nevertheless not free from punishment. Schultens has an explanation to give to the words which is worthy of examination: hand to hand, i.e., after the manner of an inheritance per posteros (Exodus 20:5), resting his opinion on this, that Arab. yad (cf. יד, Isaiah 56:5) is used among other significations in that of authorizing an inheritance. Gesenius follows him, but only urging the idea of the sequence of time (cf. Pers. dest bedest, hand to hand = continuing after one another), and interprets יד ביד as Fleischer does: ab aetate in aetatem non (i.e., nullo unquam tempore futuro) erit impunis scelestus, sed posteri justorum salvi erunt. According to Bttcher, "hand to hand" is equivalent to from one hand to another, and this corresponds to the thought expressed in Plutarch's de sera numinis vindicta: if not immediately, yet at last. We may refer in vindication of this to the fact that, as the Arab. lexicographers say, yad, used of the course of time, means the extension (madd) of time, and then a period of time. But for the idea expressed by nunquam, or neutiquam, or tandem aliquando, the language supplied to the poet a multitude of forms, and we do not see why he should have selected just this expression with its primary meaning alternatim not properly agreeing with the connection. Therefore we prefer with Ewald to regard יד ליד as a formula confirmation derived from the common speech of the people: hand to hand (ל as in לידי, Job 17:3), i.e., the hand for it I pledge it, guarantee it (Bertheau, Hitzig, Elster, Zckler). But if 21a assures by the pledge of the hand, and as it were lays a wager to it, that the wicked shall not go unpunished, then the genitive in זרע צדּיקים is not that of dependence by origin, but, as Isaiah 65:23; Isaiah 1:4, the genitive of apposition, for זרע here, as דּור, Psalm 24:6; Psalm 112:2, denotes a oneness of like origin and of like kind, but with a preponderance of the latter. נמלט is the 3rd pret., which by the preceding fut. retains the reference to the future: the merited punishment comes on the wicked, but the generation of the righteous escapes the judgment. רּע has the ר dagheshed (Michlol 63d) according to the rule of the דחיק, according to which the consonant first sounded after the word terminating in an accented a or is doubled, which is here, as at Proverbs 15:1, done with the ר.
Though hand join - Though they are fortified against God's judgments by a numerous issue and kindred, and friends, and by mutual and strong combinations. The seed - Not only their persons, but their children.
*More commentary available at chapter level.