Proverbs 2:15 - Exposition

Whose ways are crooked; better, perhaps, who as to their ways are crooked. This is the construction adopted by Fleischer, Berthean, Zockler, and others, though it may be remarked that the substantive אֹרַח ( orakh ) , "way," is common gender, and may thin; agree with the adjective עֵקֵשׁ ( ikesh ) , "perverse," which is masculine. The Targum, LXX ; Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, all make "crooked" agree with "ways," do that, grammatically, the Authorized Version may be regarded as not incorrect. Crooked ( עִקְּשִׁים , ik'shim ); i.e. tortuous, perverse, not straightforward, ( σκολιαὶ , LXX .). Symmachus translates the original by σκαμβαί , i.e. "bent." Theodotion, by στριβλαί , "twisted, crookt? Sinners, in their perverseness, are ever winding about, turning in every direction, and changing from purpose to purpose, as wayward caprice or shifting inclination, the alternations of evil propensity, happen to dictate (Wardlaw). (For the expressions "crooked ways," see Psalms 125:5 .) And they froward in their paths; i.e. perverse in their paths. The root idea of the Hebrew niph. participle וּנְלוֹזִים ( vun'lozim ) , translated "and they froward," is "to bend aside," "to turn away." They are turned aside to the right hand and to the left in their walk. The niph. participle נָלוֹז ( naloz ) only occurs four times in the Scriptures—here; Proverbs 3:32 ; Proverbs 14:2 ; and Isaiah 30:12 . This is the last feature in their wickedness.