Proverbs 21

The Hebrew word, nir, can mean a light or plowed ground. Either way, scholars say it’s tough to connect the second line to the first. Many say the proverb is corrupt, meaning edited beyond recognition or repair. The second line would literally say the “lamp of the wicked is sin” or “tillage [plowed ground] of the wicked is sinful.” Regardless, the first line sets pride up for a knockout punch.

The second line is hard to understand, if not impossible. It’s more literally, “a driven breath, seekers of death.” What to do with that is any scholar’s guess. Some translate it as a fleeting vapor, headed for extinction, or soon to evaporate.

This is another proverb some scholars say is so corrupt or confusing that it remains mysterious. Scholars say they don’t understand what some of the words mean. An approach different from the one taken here says the first line talks about the crooked path of bad people, and that the second line is the contrast, which talks about the good conduct of good people.

Or a cranky man. But this parable was written for young men by elderly men who apparently had not consulted their wives in the matter. It’s a parable repeated in Proverbs 25:24.

Some scholars explain this parable by saying some folks have to see what happens to bad people before they decide to take the high road in life. Others, more savvy, simply learn from teachers wiser than themselves. That would make the point similar to the proverb in 19:25.

The writer didn’t say anything about punishment, but scholars say it’s implied. The idea is that good people are held for ransom and bad people not only become the ransom that frees the good folks, the bad folks suffer for it.