Proverbs - 2:14



14 who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Proverbs 2:14.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things:
who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of evil;
Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in frowardness of the wicked,
Who take pleasure in wrongdoing, and have joy in the evil designs of the sinner;
who rejoice when they have done evil, and who exult in the most wicked things.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Who rejoice to do evil, [and] delight (h) in the frowardness of the wicked;
(h) When they see any given to evil as they are.

Who rejoice to do evil,.... At the doing of it, or when they have done it; they are glad of an opportunity of doing mischief, and glory when they have done it; it is a sport and pastime to them, Proverbs 10:2; they take pleasure in the act of sin, and have no remorse of conscience afterwards; they speak of it in an exulting manner, and boast of it, and glory in their shame;
and delight in the frowardness of the wicked: of the wicked man, as Aben Ezra and Gersom supply it; in the perversities and contradictions of every wicked man; they not only take pleasure in their own sins, but in the sins of others, and in them that commit them; which is an aggravation of their wickedness, Romans 1:32; they delight to hear a man speak froward and perverse things; things against God, and Christ, and religion, against all good men, and everything that is good; against the Gospel, the doctrines and ordinances of it; and they delight to see him do things perverse and contrary to the will of God. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "they exult in the worst things".

and that with pleasure, in ignorance of good and pursuit of evil.
frowardness--Not only their own perversity, but that of others is their delight. They love most the worst things.

In this verse the regimen of the מן, 12b, is to be regarded as lost; the description now goes on independently. Whoever does not shrink back from evil, but gives himself up to deceit, who finally is at home in it as in his own proper life-element, and rejoices, yea, delights in that which he ought to shun as something destructive and to be rejected. The neut. רע is frequently an attributive genit., Proverbs 6:24; Proverbs 15:26; Proverbs 28:5; cf. טוב, Proverbs 24:25, which here, since תּהפּכות are those who in themselves are bad, does not separate, but heightens: perversitates non simplices aut vulgares, sed pessimae et ex omni parte vitiosae (J. H. Michaelis). With אשׁר (οἵτινες), Proverbs 2:15, this part is brought to a conclusion. Fleischer, Bertheau, and others interpret ארחתיהם, as the accus. of the nearer definition, as σκολιὸς τὸν νοῦν, τὰς πράξεις; but should it be an accus., then would we expect, in this position of the words, עקּשׁוּ (Isaiah 59:8; Proverbs 10:8, cf. Proverbs 9:15). עקּשׁים is the pred.; for ארח, like דּרך, admits of both genders. וּנלוזים carries in it its subject הם; לוּז, like the Arab. l'd, l'dh, is a weaker form of לוּץ, flectere, inclinare, intrans. recedere: they are turned aside, inclined out of the way to the right and left in their walk (בּ as Proverbs 17:20).

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