Proverbs 2:12 To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks fraudulent things; This is a word which occurs more than once in these verses, and which occurs frequently throughout this book, and whereof I have not met with an exactly defined signification. Some understand by it peevishness or perverseness. Were I to consult its etymology I should rather conceive that it was "fromward"; and so, impetuous, headstrong, acting on the impulse of whatever feeling is uppermost in the mind, unrestrained by calculation or conscience, and the opposite, therefore, of discretion. In ver. 12 I should render the word by "unfaithful"; in ver. 14, by "perverse"; in Proverbs 3:32, by "unlawful," or "transgressor of the law." But it is not easy to gather the precise meaning of the word "froward," as the original words for it are various. (T. Chalmers, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;WEB: to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things; |
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