1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 sn This describes evil people who flout all morality and goodness; sooner or later the public will have had enough of them. 15 16 17 18 sn God holds people responsible for rescuing those who are in mortal danger. The use of “death” and “slaughter” seems rather strong in the passage, but they have been used before in the book for the destruction that comes through evil. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 sn The righteous may suffer adversity or misfortune any number of times – seven times here – but they will “rise” for virtue triumphs over evil in the end (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 140). 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 sn The reward for living in peace under God in this world is that those who do will escape the calamities that will fall on the rebellious. Verse 21a is used in 1 Peter 2:17, and v. 22 is used in Romans 13:1-7 (v. 4). This is the thirtieth and last of this collection. 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 sn The teacher makes several observations of the state of the sluggard that reveal that his continued laziness will result in poverty. The reminiscence used here may be a literary device to draw a fictional but characteristically true picture of the lazy person. 61