Proverbs 21:8

The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
way	דֶּ֣רֶךְ De.rekh	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct
man	אִ֣ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
froward	הֲפַכְפַּ֬ךְ ha.fakh.Pakh	H2019	very perverse · adjective, masculine singular absolute
strange	וָזָ֑ר va.Zar	H2054	crime · adjective, masculine singular absolute
pure	וְ֝זַ֗ךְ ve.Zakh	H2134	clear · conjunction + adjective, masculine singular absolute
work	פָּעֳלֽוֹ po.'o.Lo	H6467	an act or work (concretely) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
right	יָשָׁ֥ר ya.Shar	H3477	straight (literally or figuratively) · adjective, masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Psalms 14:2-3 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
Proverbs 2:15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise s…
1 Corinthians 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1 Peter 1:22-23 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another…
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
Genesis 6:5-6 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continu…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 21:8

This shows that as men are so is their way. 1. Evil men have evil ways. If the man be froward, his way also is strange; and this is the way of most men, such is the general corruption of mankind. They have all gone aside (Psa 14:2, Psa 14:3); all flesh have perverted their way. But the froward man, the man of deceit, that acts by craft and trick in all he does, his way is strange, contrary to all the rules of honour and honesty. It is strange, for you know not where to find him nor when you have him; it is strange, for it is alienated from all good and estranges men from God and his favour. It is what he behold afar off, and so do all honest men. 2. Men that are pure are proved to be such by…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 21:8

of man--any one; his way is opposed to truth, and also estranged from it. The pure proves himself such by his right conduct.

John Gill on Proverbs 21:8

The way of man is froward and strange,.... Not the way of any and every man; not the way of righteous and good men, of believers in Christ; who know him, the way, and walk in him and after him, and being led by him; who have his spirit to be their guide, and do walk in his ways, and find pleasure in them; the way of such is not froward or perverse, but upright and even, and is not strange, for the Lord knows and approves of it: but the way of wicked and impure men, as may be learned from the opposition in the next clause; the way of unregenerate men, who are gone out of the good way, and turned to their own way, which is according to the course of the world, and after the prince of it, and a…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 21:8

8 Winding is the way of a man laden with guilt; But the pure - his conduct is right. Rightly the accentuation places together "the way of a man" as subject, and "winding" as predicate: if the poet had wished to say (Schultens, Bertheau) "one crooked in his way" (quoad viam), he would have contented himself with the phrase נחפּך דּרך. But, on the other hand, the accentuation is scarcely correct (the second Munach is a transformed Mugrash), for it interprets וזר as a second pred.; but וזר is adj. to אישׁ. As הפכפּך (synon. פּתלתּל, עקלקל) is a hapax leg., so also vazar, which is equivalent to (Arab.) mawzwr, crimine onustus, from wazria, crimen committere, properly to charge oneself with a cri…

The Church Fathers

The perverse way of a man is foreign, etc. To live justly before the Lord is proper to the human condition. Hence elsewhere it is said, "Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiasticus 12). But he who lives perversely, indeed walks a path foreign to human nature. Therefore, perverse action is foreign and against nature. But he who is pure in work rightly carries out what he originally received by nature.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

Wherefore we must cast out all wickedness from our souls, and never more contrive any deceit; for, saith one, "To the perverse God sendeth crooked paths"; and, "The holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding." For nothing maketh men so foolish as wickedness; since when a man is treacherous, unfair, ungrateful, (these are different forms of wickedness,) when without having been wronged he grieves another, when he weaves deceits, how shall he not exhibit an example of excessive folly? Again, nothing maketh men so wise as virtue; it rendereth them thankful and fair-minded, merciful, mild, gentle, and candid; it is wont to be the mother of all other blessings. And what is more understanding than one so disposed? for virtue is the very spring and root of prudence, just as all wickedness hath its beginning in folly.
— John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 41

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Character Of The Wicked · Froward — Froward
Depravity Of Man · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Holiness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Purity · OF HEART — OF HEART

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 21:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 21:8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 21:8

John Gill on Proverbs 21:8

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 21:8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 21:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 21:8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 21:8

John Gill on Proverbs 21:8

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 21:8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 21:8

Rashi on Proverbs 21:8