Proverbs 2:12

12. They do this, to deliver thee (now their ward) from the way of the evil man, (especially) from the man that speaketh froward things תהפכות , ( tahpukhoth,) another obscure word, found almost exclusively in this book. It is the opposite of m’sharim, (Proverbs 1:3,) equity, rectitude. It seems to be a comprehensive term, implying all manner of evil doing. Perhaps subversions or perversions comes as near the original as any English word; that is, the man uttering words calculated to subvert or pervert to turn the hearer from the right to the wrong, or to change the condition of things, whether in the Church or State, from good to evil. It applies to all reckless innovators and revolutionists, particularly to such as seek to overthrow a good government in order to put another in its place. This conception is somewhat supported by the preceding word, רע , ( ra’h,) evil, badness, worthlessness. The radical idea of this word is to break; and it denotes “the breaking of some established order of things, or some preconceived design, plan, or the like.” Gesenius says, “Intransitive to be evil, bad; from the idea of breaking, being broken, and so made worthless.” But may not the idea of moral badness also appropriately come from the active conception of breaking, destroying? It is certainly a very vivid and truthful conception of a bad man, that he is a breaker, a destroyer of things, like his father Abaddon, the destroyer. He breaks law and order, peace, quietness, and harmony. He destroys virtue, character, reputation, property, government in short, every thing he lays his hands on or influences; he destroys his associates, and, finally, himself.

The Septuagint adds to this verse the following, not found in the Hebrew: “He that stays himself upon falsehoods attempts to rule the winds, and the same will pursue birds in their flight: for he has forsaken the ways of his own vineyard, and he has caused the axles of his own husbandry to go astray; but he goes through a dry desert, and a land appointed to drought, and he gathers barrenness with his hands.”