Proverb outlines

“The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,

but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.”

How does this proverb give us insight into wisdom? How can we understand it in light of the framework we are given in and ? What we see in this text is that there is “formation” that occurs in each person’s character. One’s “way” is determined by one’s choices, but even those choices are an overflow of his or her character. How is one’s character formed? Based on 1:1-7 and chapters 1-9 , we see that one is formed into a righteous person, a wise person, a blameless person by who they are listening to. Is one listening to Lady Wisdom? They will continue in righteousness. But on the contrary if they listen to Lady Folly they will continue to be formed by wickedness which as it says in 7:27 leads to death. In this Proverb the wicked is sabotaged by his own wickedness, his own character is the cause of his own downfall.

“The righteousness of the upright delivers them,

but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.”

Similarly to the previous proverb the formed character of the person is what precedes their outcome. It is the “way” that they are on, it is the destination they are heading towards. The LEB translates this differently:

(LEB)

6 The righteousness of the upright will save them,

but by a scheme the treacherous will be taken captive.

This translation and the Hebrew verbs for “will save” and “will be taken captive” suggest a future tense to which these things will occur.(Found this information using the exegetical guide tool through logos) This further supports the interpretation that I gave previously for this text.