The way of the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but he loves him who follows after righteousness.
Parallel Translations
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The way of the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but he loves him who follows after righteousness.
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The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
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The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD; but He loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Proverbs 15:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Timothy 6:11 But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
- Proverbs 21:21 He who follows after righteousness and kindness finds life, righteousness, and honor.
- Jeremiah 44:4 However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.”
- Hosea 6:3 Let’s acknowledge Yahweh. Let’s press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
- Habakkuk 1:13 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
- Matthew 7:13 “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.
- Psalms 1:6 For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.
- Psalms 146:8-9 Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous. Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but he turns the way of the wicked upside down.
- Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
- Proverbs 21:4 A high look and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.
- Proverbs 21:8 The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.
- Isaiah 26:7 The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.
- Isaiah 51:1 “Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh. Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the quarry you were dug from.
- Isaiah 51:7 “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults.
- 2 Timothy 2:22 Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 15:9 The way of the wicked [is] an…
Pro 15:9 The way of the wicked [is] an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
Ver. 9. The way of the wicked is abomination.] Not his sacrifices only, but his civilities; all his actions - natural, moral, recreative, religious - are offensive to all God’s senses, as the word signifies. The very "ploughing of the wicked is sin": {Pro 21:4} all they do is defiled, yea, their "very consciences." {2Ti 1:15} Their hearts, like some filthy bog or fen, or like the lake of Sodom, send up continual poisonous vapours unto God: and he, not able to abide them, sends down eftsoons a counterpoison of plagues and punishments. {Psa 11:6 Rom 1:18}
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But he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.] Although he fulfil not all righteousness, yet if he make after it with might and main, as the word signifies, if he pursue it and have it in chase, as ravenous creatures have their prey, "if by any means he may attain to the resurrection of the dead"; {Php 3:11} that is, that height of holiness that accompanieth the resurrection: this is the man whom God loves. Now God’s love is not an empty love; it is not like the winter sun, that casts a goodly countenance when it shines, but gives little warmth and comfort. "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness; those that remember thee in thy ways," {Isa 64:5} "that think upon thy commandments to do them," {Psa 103:20} qui faciunt praecepta, etsi non perficiant, {a} that are weak but willing, θελοντες, {Heb 13:18} that are lifting at the latch, though they cannot do up the door: "Surely, shall every such one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." {Isa 45:24} "Righteousness," that is, mercy to those that come over to him, and "strength" to enable them to come, as the sea sends out waters to fetch us to it.
{a} Augustin.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The way; the conversation or course of life. This…
The way; the conversation or course of life. This verse seems to contain a reason of the foregoing. God hates wicked men’s religious performances, because they are accompanied with ungodly lives, and they pull down with one hand what they build up with another.
That followeth after righteousness; that earnestly desires, and constantly and diligently endeavours, to be holy and righteous in the course of his life, although he doth not attain to that perfect righteousness which he thirsts after.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain This is a reason of what was said in…
This is a reason of what was said in the foregoing verse. 1. The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to God, not for want of some nice points of ceremony, but because their way, the whole course and tenour of their conversation, is wicked, and consequently an abomination to him. Sacrifices for sin were not accepted of those that resolved to go on in sin, and were to the highest degree abominable if intended to obtain a connivance at sin and a permission to go on in it. 2. Therefore the prayer of the upright is his delight, because he is a friend of God, and he loves him who, though he have not yet attained, is following after righteousness, aiming at it and pressing towards it, as St. Paul, Phi 3:13.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The way of the wicked is an abomination unto…
The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord,.... The way his heart devises, which he chooses and delights in, in which he walks; nor will he leave it, nor can he be diverted from it, but by the powerful grace of God. This is a way not good, but evil, and so an abomination to the Lord; and the whole tenor and course of his life, which is meant by his way being evil: hence his sacrifices, and all his external duties of religion performed by him, are abominable to the Lord; for, while he continues in a course of sin, all his religious exercises will be of no avail, cannot be pleasing and acceptable to God;
but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness; either after a justifying righteousness; not the righteousness of the law, which the carnal Jews followed after, but did not attain unto; nor is righteousness to be had by the works of the law, nor any justification by it, nor can a man be acceptable to God on account of it; but the righteousness of Christ, which he has wrought out, and is revealed in the Gospel: to follow after this supposes a want of one; a sense of that want; a view of the glory, fulness, suitableness, and excellency of Christ's righteousness; an eager desire after it, sometimes expressed by hungering and thirsting after it, as here by a pursuit of it; which means no other than an earnest and importunate request to be found in it: and such, as they shall be satisfied or filled with it, so they are loved by the Lord, and are acceptable to him through the righteousness they are seeking after: or else it may be understood of following after true holiness of heart and life, without which there is no seeing the Lord; and though perfection in it is not attainable in this live, yet a gracious soul presses after it, which is well pleasing in the sight of God.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. Way of the wicked… abomination — This proverb…
9. Way of the wicked… abomination — This proverb is kindred to the preceding, but not the same; expressed in different words. It is here the “way of the wicked” in general that is an “abomination,” not specially his worship, as in the preceding.
Followeth after righteousness — Or, who earnestly pursues it, is studious to be right and to do right. Compare Pro_12:21; Psa_34:14; Deu_16:20; Isa_51:1; Isa_51:7; Hos_6:3; 1Ti_6:11.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain This verse gives the reason for the treatment specified…
This verse gives the reason for the treatment specified in the preceding verse. (comp. Pro_11:20 Pro_12:22) Followeth after; chaseth, implying effort and perseverance, as in the pursuit of game. (Pro_11:19 Pro_21:21)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 9. The way of the wicked is an…
v. 9. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord, He loathes their entire conduct; but He loveth him that followeth after righteousness, who makes it his business to search after, to pursue with great eagerness, that righteousness of life which pleases Jehovah.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Yahweh hates the way of wicked people
Yahweh hates the way of wicked people
The lifestyles of wicked people are spoken of as if they are paths on which those people walk. AT: "Yahweh hates the way that wicked people live" (See: Metaphor)
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the one who pursues what is right
Being diligent to live rightly is spoken of as if it were chasing after right things. AT: "the person who strives to live rightly" (See: Metaphor)
anyone who forsakes the way
Here "the way" refers to the way of righteousness. A person who stops doing what is right is spoken of as if he has stopped walking on the correct path. AT: "anyone who stops living rightly" (See: Metaphor)
he who hates correction
The word "correction" can be translated as a verb. AT: "the person who hates it when others correct him" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
Yahweh
evil
love
discipline
forsake
die
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.