12 The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked, and brings the wicked to ruin.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Or, The Righteous One (Yahweh) regardeth well the house of the wicked, and maketh the wicked fall into mischief.
The righteous man wisely considereth - This verse is understood as implying the pious concern of a righteous man, for a wicked family, whom he endeavors by his instructions to bring into the way of knowledge and peace.
The righteous [man] wisely (f) considereth the house of the wicked: [but God] overthroweth the wicked for [their] wickedness.
(f) Though the godly admonish them both by words and example of life, yet the wicked will not amend, till God destroys them.
The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked,.... Not so much the stately palace he lives in, and the furniture of it, as the glory, splendour, riches, and largeness of his family; the flourishing condition he and they are in: he considers how they came into it, the short continuance of it, and what the end will be, which in a short time wilt be ruin and destruction; and therefore be does not envy their present happiness, or fret at it. Gersom renders it,
"the righteous maketh the house of the wicked to prosper;''
as Joseph did Potiphar's, and Jacob Laban's; or rather the Lord made them to prosper for their sakes. Jarchi interprets the righteous of God himself; who gives his heart, or has it in his heart to cut off the house of the wicked, as follows;
but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness; or removes them into evil, as the Targum; into the evil of punishment, for the evil of sin. Aben Ezra supplies the word "God", as we do; and understands it of God's destroying wicked men for their sins, though they have flourished for a while in this world: but some interpret it of the righteous man, even of a righteous magistrate, who is prudent and diligent in his office; who looks into the houses of wicked men, and inquires who they are that are in them, and how they live; and what they have in their houses, whether stolen goods, the properties of others; or arms, either for treasonable practices or for robberies; and takes them and punishes them according to the laws of God and men.
Good men envy not the prosperity of evil-doers; they see there is a curse on them.
(Compare Psalm 37:35-38; Psalm 73:17, Psalm 73:20).
house--family or interests.
overthroweth--either supply "God" (compare Proverbs 10:24), or the word is used impersonally.
12 A righteous One marketh the house of the godless;
He hurleth the godless to destruction.
If we understand by the word צדּיק a righteous man, then 12a would introduce the warning which he gives, and the unexpressed subject of 12b must be God (Umbreit). But after such an introitus, יהוה ought not to be wanting. If in 12a "the righteous man" is the subject, then it presents itself as such also for the second parallel part. But the thought that the righteous, when he takes notice of the house of the godless, shows attention which of itself hurls the godless into destruction (Lwenstein), would require the sing. רשׁע in the conclusion; also, instead of מסלּף the fut. יסלּף would have been found; and besides, the judicial סלּף (vid., regarding this word at Proverbs 11:3; Proverbs 19:3) would not be a suitable word for this confirmation in evil. Thus by צדיק the proverb means God, and מסלף has, as at Proverbs 22:12, Job 12:19, this word as its subject. "A righteous One" refers to the All-righteous, who is called, Job 34:17, "the All-just One," and by Rashi, under the passage before us, צדּיקו שׁל־עולם. Only do not translate with Bertheau and Zckler: the Righteous One (All-righteous), for (1) this would require הצּדּיק, and (2) הצדיק is never by itself used as an attributive designation of God. Rightly, Fleischer and Ewald: a Righteous One, viz., God. It is the indetermination which seeks to present the idea of the great and dreadful: a Righteous One, and such a Righteous One!
(Note: The Arabs call this indetermination âlnkrt lalt'ẓym wallthwyl. Vid., under Psalm 2:12.)
השׂכיל with על, Proverbs 16:20, or אל, Psalm 41:2; Nehemiah 8:13, here with ל, signifies to give attention to anything, to look attentively on it. The two participles stand in the same line: animum advertit evertit. Hitzig changes לבּית רשׁע into לבּיתו, and makes רשׁע the subject of 12b; but the proverb as it lies before us is far more intelligible.
Considereth - He looks through its present glory to that ruin for which it is designed.
*More commentary available at chapter level.