Chapter 27 opens with the moral dangers of commerce -- sin wedges itself between buyer and seller as surely as a stake is driven between stones. The chapter then develops a series of tests for character: speech reveals the person, the furnace tests the pot, and adversity tests the just. A lengthy meditation on treachery, betrayal, and the boomerang nature of evil follows: whoever digs a pit will fall into it.
The opening image of sin 'wedging itself' between joined stones (v. 2) is architecturally precise and morally penetrating. The extended metaphor of speech as the test of character (vv. 5-8) -- the sieve that shakes out the refuse, the kiln that reveals the crack, the fruit that proves the tree -- is developed with extraordinary care. The retribution principle (vv. 25-30) is stated with lapidary force: evil returns to the evildoer as surely as a stone falls back on the one who throws it upward.
The retribution theology is presented without qualification: the wicked always suffer, the righteous always prosper. This confident equation is precisely what the book of Job challenges. The chapter also assumes that character is essentially fixed and discernible through external tests, leaving little room for complexity or growth.
Proverbs 26:27 (whoever digs a pit will fall into it); Matthew 7:16-20 (by their fruits you shall know them); James 3:1-12 (the tongue); Ecclesiastes 10:8 (whoever digs a pit may fall into it); Psalm 7:15-16 (the pit-digger falls into his own trap).
Propter inopiam multi deliquerunt et qui quaerit locupletari avertit oculum suum.
For the sake of profit many have sinned, and whoever seeks to become rich turns away his eye.
Sicut in medio conpaginis lapidum palus figitur sic et inter medium venditionis et emptionis angustiabitur peccatum.
As a stake is driven between the joinings of stones, so sin is wedged between buying and selling.
The fitted masonry joint -- commerce, like stonemasonry, looks solid but conceals the wedge of dishonesty within.
Conteretur cum delinquente delictum.
Sin will be crushed together with the sinner.
Si non in timore Domini tenueris te instanter cito subvertetur domus tua.
If you do not hold fast to the fear of the Lord with diligence, your house will quickly be overturned.
Sicut in percussura cribri remanebit pulvis sic aporia hominis in cogitatu illius.
As in the shaking of a sieve the refuse remains, so the filth of a person remains in his thought.
The agricultural sieve separates grain from chaff -- trial functions similarly, separating the genuine from the worthless in a person's character.
Vasa figuli probat fornax et homines iustos temptatio tribulationis.
The furnace tests the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation tests the just.
Sicut rusticatio de ligno ostendit fructum illius sic verbum ex cogitatu cordis hominis.
As the cultivation of a tree shows its fruit, so does a word reveal the thought of a person's heart.
Ante sermonem non laudes virum haec enim temptatio est hominum.
Do not praise a person before he speaks, for this is the test of a person.
Si sequaris iustitiam adprehendes illam et indues quasi poderem honoris.
If you pursue justice, you will attain it and wear it like a robe of honor.
The poderes is a full-length robe of distinction -- justice is not merely an inner quality but becomes the visible garment of the righteous.
Volucres ad sibi similia conveniunt et veritas ad eos qui operantur illam revertetur.
Birds flock together with their kind, and truth returns to those who practice it.
Leo venationi insidiatur semper sic peccata operantibus iniquitates.
A lion lies in wait for prey always; so do sins lie in wait for those who practice iniquity.
Homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut sol nam stultus sicut luna mutatur.
A holy person abides in wisdom like the sun, but a fool changes like the moon.
In medio insensatorum serva verbum tempori in medio autem cogitantium adsiduus esto.
Among the senseless, keep your word for the right time; but among the thoughtful, be constant in speech.
Narratio peccantium odiosa et risus illorum in deliciis peccati.
The talk of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is in the delight of sin.
Loquella multum iurans horripilationem capiti statuet et inreverentia ipsius obturatio aurium.
Speech full of oaths makes the hair stand on end, and its irreverence makes one stop the ears.
Effusio sanguinis in rixa superborum et maledictio illorum auditus gravis.
The quarrels of the proud lead to bloodshed, and their cursing is a grievous thing to hear.
Qui denudat arcana amici fidem perdit et non inveniet amicum ad animum suum.
Whoever reveals the secrets of a friend destroys trust, and he will not find a friend after his own heart.
Arcana implies sacred or hidden things entrusted in confidence -- their betrayal is a profanation.
Dilige proximum et coniungere fide cum illo.
Love your neighbor and be joined to him in faithfulness.
Quod si denudaveris absconsa illius non persequeris post eum.
But if you have revealed his secrets, do not pursue after him.
Sicut enim homo qui perdit amicum suum sic qui perdit amicitiam proximi sui.
For as a person who loses his friend, so is the one who loses the friendship of his neighbor.
Et sicut qui dimittit avem de manu sua sic dereliquisti proximum tuum et non eum capies.
And like one who releases a bird from his hand, so you have let go of your neighbor, and you will not catch him again.
Non illum sequaris quoniam longe abest effugit enim quasi caprea de laqueo quoniam vulnerata est anima eius.
Do not pursue him, for he is far away; he has escaped like a gazelle from a snare, for his soul has been wounded.
Ultra eum non poteris conligare et maledicti est concordatio et denudare amici mysteria desperatio est animae infelicis.
You can no longer bind him up; and for cursing there may be reconciliation -- but to reveal the secrets of a friend is the despair of an unhappy soul, beyond all remedy.
Adnuens oculo fabricat iniqua et nemo eum abiciet.
Whoever winks the eye devises evil, and no one will reject him.
In conspectu oculorum tuorum conculcabit os suum et super sermones tuos admirabitur novissime autem pervertet os suum et in verbis tuis dabit scandalum.
Before your eyes he will sweeten his mouth and marvel at your words; but in the end he will twist his speech, and in your own words he will set a trap.
Multa odivi et non coaequavi illi et Dominus odiet illum.
I have hated many things, but none so much as him; and the Lord will hate him.
Qui in altum mittit lapidem super caput eius cadet et plaga dolosa dolosi dividet vulnera.
Whoever throws a stone upward -- it will fall on his own head; and a treacherous blow will open the wounds of the treacherous.
Qui foveam fodit incidet in eam et qui statuit lapidem proximo offendet in eo et qui laqueum alio ponit peribit in illo.
Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever sets a stone in his neighbor's path will stumble on it, and whoever lays a snare for another will perish in it.
Consilium nequam super ipsum devolvetur et non agnoscet unde adveniet illi.
A wicked plan will roll back upon its maker, and he will not know where it came from.
Inlusio et inproperium superborum et vindicta sicut leo insidiabitur illi.
Mockery and contempt belong to the proud, and vengeance lies in wait for them like a lion.
Laqueo peribunt qui oblectantur casu iustorum dolor autem consumet illos antequam moriantur.
Those who rejoice in the fall of the just will perish by the snare, and pain will consume them before they die.
Iracundia et furor utraque execrabilia sunt et vir peccator continens erit illorum.
Wrath and fury are both abominations, and the sinful person will possess them.