Proverbs 11:18-19

11:18 The wicked person ¹  earns ²  deceitful wages, ³ 

but the one who sows ⁴  righteousness reaps ⁵  a genuine ⁶  reward. ⁷ 

11:19 True ⁸  righteousness leads to ⁹  life,

but the one who pursues evil pursues it ¹⁰  to his own death. ¹¹ 

¹ tn The form is the masculine singular adjective used as a substantive.

² tn Heb “makes” (so NAB).

³ tn Heb “wages of deception.”

⁴ sn The participle “sowing” provides an implied comparison (the figure is known as hypocatastasis) with the point of practicing righteousness and inspiring others to do the same. What is sown will yield fruit (1 Cor 9:11; 2 Cor 9:6; Jas 3:18).

⁵ tn The term “reaps” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation from context for the sake of smoothness.

⁶ tn Heb “true” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, NAB, NIV “sure.”

⁷ sn A wordplay (paronomasia) occurs between “deceptive” (שָׁקֶר, shaqer) and “reward” (שֶׂכֶר, sekher), underscoring the contrast by the repetition of sounds. The wages of the wicked are deceptive; the reward of the righteous is sure.

⁸ tn Heb “the veritable of righteousness.” The adjective כֵּן (ken, “right; honest; veritable”) functions substantivally as an attributive genitive, meaning “veritable righteousness” = true righteousness (BDB 467 s.v. 2; HALOT 482 s.v. I כֵּן 2.b). One medieval Hebrew ms, LXX, and Syriac read בֵּן (ben), “son of righteousness.” That idiom, however, usually introduces bad qualities (“son of worthlessness”). Others interpret it as “righteousness is the foundation of life.” KB identifies the form as a participle and reads it as “steadfast in righteousness”; but the verb does not otherwise exist in the Qal. W. McKane reads it as כָּן (kan, from כּוּן, kun) and translates it “strive after” life (Proverbs [OTL], 435).

⁹ tn Heb “is to life.” The expression “leads to” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but the idiom implies it; it is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

¹⁰ tn The phrase “pursues it” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation from context.

¹¹ sn “Life” and “death” describe the vicissitudes of this life but can also refer to the situation beyond the grave. The two paths head in opposite directions.