In a prior post I discussed an interesting Jewish hermeneutic (an interpretative framework) asserting that the Book of Proverbs is a commentary on the Torah.[1] In this post I present an application of this idea to understand a translation conundrum that I discovered in Proverbs 12:28.
- Proverbs 12:28 (NIV) In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.
Here is the Hebrew with my word for word transliteration beneath it (remember Hebrew reads from right to left) and finally my translation (DCB):
28 בְּאֹֽרַח־צְדָקָ֥ה חַיִּ֑ים וְדֶ֖רֶךְ נְתִיבָ֣ה אַל־מָֽוֶת
- death-of-not footpath road/way-and/but life righteousness-of-path/manner/way-in/with/by
- (DCB) In the way of righteousness is life, and a journey on that path is without death.
As you can see my translation and the NIV translation are quite similar in meaning. This verse presents a simple and elegant truth that permeates scripture. A person who pleases God by living righteously discovers a path whose ultimate destination is eternal life with God. There can be little doubt that this English translation of the Hebrew is the literal meaning after looking at many different translations.[2]
Let’s look a little more critically. It is notable that the waw וְ separating the first and second half of the verse can either serve as a conjunction (and) or a disjunction (but). The translator is forced to decide what they think was intended.[3] However, the two halves of this verse are surprisingly redundant, with the second half adding very little new to the meaning of the first half and leaving little doubt that the conjunction “and” is needed.
Here is the conundrum: when the second half of the verse was translated into the Greek Septuagint (LXX) by rabbis, hundreds of years before Jesus came, the Greek translation reads very differently than the Hebrew translations above.
Here is my word for word transliteration followed by my (DCB) translation of the Greek:
- Prov 12:28: (LXX) ἐν ὁδοῖς δικαιοσύνης ζωή, ὁδοὶ δὲ μνησικάκων εἰς θάνατον.
- In/with/by ways/roads of righteousness quality of life, the way/road but revenge/malice/grudge into death
- Proverbs 12:28: (DCB) Life is in the ways of righteousness, but the ways of revenge lead into death.
For comparison here is Brenton’s English translation of the Greek LXX:
- Prov 12:28: (Brenton) In the ways of righteousness is life; but the ways of those that remember injuries [lead] to death.
My translation and Brenton’s are very similar.
So it is clear what the Hebrew says and what the Greek says, but the question looms, why are the Hebrew and Greek so different in meaning? Why would Rabbi’s make such a huge leap in translation?
Specifically, we need to understand why the Hebrew phrase:
וְדֶ֖רֶךְ נְתִיבָ֣ה (wehdehrecheh nehthivah)
footpath/road road/way-and/but.
(DCB) “and the journey on the footpath”
This seems simple to translate, although fairly repetitive, with possible other translations like: “but the way of the path” or “but the way of the well trodden road”.
But when translated into Greek it reads:
ὁδοὶ δὲ μνησικάκων
way but/and revenge/vengeful/malice/grudge
- (DCB) but the way of revenge
First lets verify the meaning of μνησικάκων (mnay-si-ka-kown):
μνησικάκων is defined as “vengeful, revengeful, bearing malice, holding a grudge”.[4] It’s meaning is hard to mistranslate as it is a straightforward compounding of its parts.[5]
Next I searched for these two Hebrew words together in scripture to see if there was any evidence that this was an idiom or other figure of speech. I found 12 other examples (see below in the footnotes).[6] In scripture the ways and paths of light, wisdom and peace are contrasted with the ways and paths of darkness including that of the adulterer, thieves and murderers.
Only one of these verses clearly speaks of the way of revenge:
- Isaiah 43:16-19 This is what the Lord says— he who made a way דָּ֑רֶךְ through the sea, a path נְתִיבָֽה through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick…
This passage in Isaiah is making a clear reference to the Torah, specifically in Exodus chapter 14 where the Jewish people are miraculously delivered from the hands of the Egyptian army pursing them. The Jews traveled on dry ground in paths through the red sea (literally sea of reeds) with water piled up on both sides of them. The Egyptian army were seeking revenge for the loss of their firstborns in the tenth plague. They were intending to slaughter the Jews when they caught up to them. They were following the Jews well worn footpaths along the sea bed chasing the fleeing Israelites. When the Jews had safely crossed the ocean floor the walls of water crashed down upon the Egyptians drowning them all.[7]
Of the 12 instances in the scriptures, this is the only one that uses both Hebrew words וְדֶ֖רֶךְ נְתִיבָ֣ה with a clear reference to an event in the Torah. If we read the proverbs with the understanding that Solomon is making a commentary on the Torah we then can make the connection that Solomon wrote Proverbs 12:28 as a commentary on Exodus 14. Hence the rabbi’s understand that the “way of the footpath” is specifically a reference to the “way of revenge” sought by the Egyptians that led to their deaths in the red sea.
There is another translation detail that still must be clarified, though for this interpretation to make sense:
- The Hebrew phrase:
אַל־מָֽוֶת (al maweth)
death-of-not
- DCB: without death or NIV: immortality
Must somehow be construed to mean “into death” rather than its opposite “not of death”.
This seems difficult, but is actually pretty easy to explain. The Hebrew word אל (al) has a large breadth of possible meanings depending on the vowel pointing. Since the original biblical text did not include vowel pointing all of the following are possible translations:
אל god
אַַל no, not
אֵל in, into, towards
אֵל these
So the phrase in question, אל־מות, with a different choice of vowel pointing, can mean “not of death”, “into death” or even “god of death”.
So if we return to translating the Hebrew with this new understanding:
28 בְּאֹֽרַח־צְדָקָ֥ה חַיִּ֑ים וְדֶ֖רֶךְ נְתִיבָ֣ה אַל־מָֽוֶת
death-into path (of the sea) road/way-and/but life righteousness-of-path/manner/way-in/with/by
- (DCB) In the way of righteousness is life, but the way on the path (in the sea) leads to death.
If we translate to express the meaning from the Torah:
- (DCB) In the way of righteousness is life, but the way of revenge is a path that leads to death.
Interestingly, this also matches an English translation from an Aramaic Old Testament:
(Aramaic Bible in Plain English) In the way of righteousness is life, and the way of the angry is unto death.
I hope this illustrates how important the context is for determining the meaning. Knowing that the Proverbs is a commentary on the Torah may drastically improve our understanding of the Proverbs and perhaps help explain other rabbinic interpretations that present translation conundrums.
Before I finish this post, I think it is worth ruminating further on this verse. The first half of this verse agrees in all translations:
- Proverbs 12:28a “In the way of righteousness is life”
I imagine that faiths of all kinds, certainly Jews, Christians, and Muslims, would agree with this foundational sentiment. Even ardent atheists will admit that religious faiths are helpful when they provide a strong incentive to learn to treat each other well. Because this desire for righteousness is a commonly held human value, it gives a powerful avenue to share about faith. For example, in Senegal West Africa there is a successful weekly radio broadcast teaching Biblical Christian values to a largely Muslim culture called “The Way of Righteousness”.
How do people even know what righteousness is? God gave the Law to Moses to guide the people of Israel how to live righteously.
- Deuteronomy 6:25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.
- Deuteronomy 30:16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
Of course, the desire to be righteous is nothing new. It has eluded the faithful for millennia!! In Psalms 14, David, “a man after God’s own heart”, tells humanity a painful truth:
- Psalm 14:2-3 The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
The failed attempts of humanity at righteousness become a refrain in scripture:
- Psalm 143:2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.
Solomon, David’s son, imbued with supernatural wisdom by God, elaborates upon this truth:
- Ecclesiastes 7:20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
At various times in human history God looked for someone to intervene on behalf of the unrighteous, but declared that even the most righteous men in their generations could not save the wicked:
- Ezekiel 14:20 “…as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.”
Lacking a righteous person on earth to intervene, God himself stepped into history himself to save the people he loved:
- Isaiah 59:16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
When the Messiah came, our Savior, Jesus the Son of God, he declared a painful unpopular truth to the religious Jews of his day who prided themselves on being righteous from following the Law of Moses:
- John 7:19 “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law.”
Did the Law fail?
- Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
The Jews thought that they could follow the Law and be righteous before God. In that sense the Law did fail, because knowing what is right and having the power to choose what is right are different things. The Law made the iniquity and sinfulness of man apparent. But this was God’s intent. The Law succeeded in showing even the most self-righteous person that they needed a Savior.
- Romans 3:20-24 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
The law could not empower a sinful person to live righteously, so Jesus brought a new righteousness, through faith. In the early days of Christianity, believers in Jesus were called followers of “The Way” because of their belief in a righteousness given through faith in Jesus, the Messiah:
- Acts 19:9 “But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.”
- Acts 19:24 “About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.”
- Acts 22:4 “I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison…
Jesus is “THE WAY” to righteousness. In fact, we can look to his life to see what it means to live a sinless, righteous life.
Jesus said:
- John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”
For those who put faith in Jesus, He sends his Holy Spirit to guide us in daily decisions empowering us so that we can live a righteous life pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit adds the needed power, presence and personal guidance that the Law could not deliver to allow us to avoid sin.
Does this mean Christians don’t sin?
No, we still find ways to miss the mark, but when we do sin the Holy Spirit points it out to us and we repent. We have the promise that:
- 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins Jesus is faithful and righteous and forgives us our sins and purifies us from all unrighteousness.
However, our being forgiven is contingent on our extending forgiveness to others:
- Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
If we don’t forgive that is a path seeking vengeance. And this vengeance causes our own death in our sins, unforgiven by Christ. Truly, as the second half of the proverb says:
Proverb 12:28b “but the way of revenge is a path that leads to death”
[1] https://davidboris.wordpress.com/2020/08/14/a-rabbinical-way-to-understand-the-book-of-proverbs/
[2] https://biblehub.com/proverbs/12-28.htm
[3] For more details about this conjunction see: davidboris.wordpress.com/2020/02/19/the-hebrew-%d7%95-waw-a-conjunction-disjuction-disfunction/
[4] http://greekdoc.com/lexicon/mn.html#mneia
[5] μνεία meaning remembrance, memory, mention, act of mentioning, what is remembered from the past, recollection, recital; a connective σ which implies a future tense in verbs; κακός meaning bad, evil or harmful – so the result is “a memory which causes the intent of future harm” – i.e. being vengeful!
[6] Job 24:13 “There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways דְרָכָ֑יו or stay in its paths בִּנְתִיבֹתָֽיו.
Proverbs 1:15-16 my son, do not go along with them (thieves and murderers) (“in their way”בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ), do not set foot on their paths מִנְּתִיבָתָֽם; for their feet rush into evil, they are swift to shed blood.
Proverbs 3:17 Her [Wisdom’s] ways דְּרָכֶ֥יהָ are pleasant ways דַרְכֵי־, and all her paths נְתִ֖יבוֹתֶ֣יה are peace.
Proverbs 7:24-26 Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her [the adulteress’] ways דְּרָכֶ֣יהָ or stray into her paths בִּנְתִיבוֹתֶֽיהָ. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng.
Proverbs 8:1-2 Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? At the highest point along the way דָ֑רֶךְ, where the paths נְתִיב֣וֹת meet, she takes her stand…
Jeremiah 6:16 This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads דְּרָכִ֨ים and look; ask for the ancient paths לִנְתִב֣וֹת, ask where the good way דֶ֤רֶךְ is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Jeremiah 18:15 (NIV) Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways בְּדַרְכֵיהֶם֙, in the ancient paths שְׁבִילֵ֣י. They made them walk in byways נְתִיב֔וֹת, on roads דֶּ֖רֶךְ not built up.
Isaiah 42:16 I will lead the blind by ways בְּדֶ֙רֶךְ֙ they have not known, along unfamiliar paths בִּנְתִיב֥וֹת I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
Isaiah 43:16-19 This is what the Lord says— he who made a way דָּ֑רֶךְ through the sea, a path נְתִיבָֽה through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick…
Isaiah 58:12-14 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets נְתִיב֖וֹת with Dwellings. “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way דְּרָכֶ֔יךָ and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 59:8 The way דֶּ֤רֶךְ of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads נְתִיבֽוֹתֵיהֶם֙; no one who walks along them (“these ways” דֹּרֵ֣ךְ) will know peace.
Lam 3:9 (NIV) He has barred my way דְּרָכַי֙ with blocks of stone; he has made my paths נְתִיבֹתַ֖י crooked.
[7] In the Ha Aggadah (pg 104 #137), there are some extra details given, not found in scripture, for example that Moses opened 12 different paths followed by the 12 different tribes across the sea bed.
Atheist to Elder 