Proverbs 1:16

New English Translation

¹⁶for they^[a] are eager^[b] to inflict harm,^[c]
and they hasten^[d] to shed blood.^[e]

Proverbs 1:16 tn Heb “their feet.” The term “feet” is a synecdoche of the part (= their feet) for the whole person (= they), stressing the eagerness of the robbers.
Proverbs 1:16 tn Heb “run.” The verb רוּץ (ruts, “run”) functions here as a metonymy of association, meaning “to be eager” to do something (BDB 930 s.v.).
Proverbs 1:16 tn Heb “to harm.” The noun רַע (raʿ) has a four-fold range of meanings: (1) “pain, harm” (Prov 3:30), (2) “calamity, disaster” (13:21), (3) “distress, misery” (14:32) and (4) “moral evil” (8:13; see BDB 948-49 s.v.). The parallelism with “swift to shed blood” suggests it means “to inflict harm, injury.”
Proverbs 1:16 tn The imperfect tense verbs may be classified as habitual or progressive imperfects describing their ongoing continual activity.
Proverbs 1:16 tc The BHS editors suggest deleting this entire verse from MT because it does not appear in several versions (Codex B of the LXX, Coptic, Arabic) and is similar to Isa 59:7a. It is possible that it was a scribal gloss (intentional addition) copied into the margin from Isaiah. But this does not adequately explain the differences. It does fit the context well enough to be original.

Isaiah 59:7

New English Translation

⁷They are eager to do evil,^[a]
quick to shed innocent blood.^[b]
Their thoughts are sinful;
they crush and destroy.^[c]

Isaiah 59:7 tn Heb “their feet run to evil.”
Isaiah 59:7 tn Heb “they quickly pour out innocent blood.”
Isaiah 59:7 tn Heb “their thoughts are thoughts of sin, destruction and crushing [are] in their roadways.”

⁸They are unfamiliar with peace;
their deeds are unjust.^[a]
They use deceitful methods,
and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace.^[b]

Isaiah 59:8 tn Heb “a way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their pathways.”
Isaiah 59:8 tn Heb “their paths they make crooked; everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”

New English Translation (NET)