Proverbs 29:27 - Exposition

An unjust man is an abomination to the just. This great moral contrast, marked and universal, is a fitting close of the book. The word "abomination" ( toebah ) occurs more than twenty times in the Proverbs; it is appropriate here because the good man looks upon the sinner as the enemy of God, as the psalmist says, "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them thine enemies" ( Psalms 139:21 , etc.). He that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked; because he is a standing reproach to him, and by every tone and look and action seems to express his condemnation. Septuagint, "A direct way is an abomination to the lawless." The Vulgate ends the chapter with a paragraph which is found in some manuscripts of the Septuagint after Proverbs 24:22 (where see note), Verbum custodiens filius extra perditionem erit .