Proverbs 2:15
in Proverbs 2whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:
KJV
Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
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This verse in Proverbs 2
Commentary
5 notes on this verseWhat is the meaning of "Prepare the way of the Lord"? Make ready for the reception of whatever Christ may wish to enact; withdraw your hearts from the shadow of the law; cease from the types; think no more perversely.… "Make the paths of our God straight." For every path that leads unto good is straight and smooth and easy; but the other is crooked that leads down to wickedness those who walk therein. For of such it is written, "Whose paths are crooked, and the tracks of their wheels awry."
This site's exposition
to deliver you from the way of evil
on Proverbs 2:12-15
The words “to deliver you from the way of evil” name the first of the chapter's two deliverances, a man defined first by his speech. His company leave “the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness,” men who knew the right paths and left them on purpose.
This site's exposition
whose paths are crooked
Crooked and devious describe paths that twist away from the straight paths of verse 13. Cyril of Alexandria sets the verse against the call of Luke 3:4-5 to make straight paths, where every crooked way is made straight. The twist is in the walker.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But she has forsaken him, and therefore it cannot be thought that she should be faithful to any one else; and whoever entertains her is partaker with her in her falsehood. Thirdly, She is false to God himself: She forgets the covenant of her God, the marriage-covenant (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Whose ways are crooked,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
To save you from a strange woman From the assembly of idolatry [apostasy], which is sectarianism.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אָרְחֹתֵיהֶ֣ם | ʾarechoteihem | paths their | H734 → | 58 times |
| עִקְּשִׁ֑ים | ʾikeshim | [are] twisted | H6141 → | 11 times |
| וּ֝נְלוֹזִ֗ים | unelozim | and [who are] crooked | H3868 → | 6 times |
| בְּמַעְגְּלוֹתָֽם׃ | bema'gelotam | in tracks their | H4570 → | 16 times |
אֲשֶׁ֣רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
אָרְחֹתֵיהֶ֣םpaths their
ʾarechoteihemH734 →58 times
עִקְּשִׁ֑ים[are] twisted
ʾikeshimH6141 →11 times
וּ֝נְלוֹזִ֗יםand [who are] crooked
unelozimH3868 →6 times
בְּמַעְגְּלוֹתָֽם׃in tracks their
bema'gelotamH4570 →16 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Philippians 2:15so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
it leads to
- Matthew 5:14–16
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
- 1 Peter 2:12
Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
- Matthew 5:45
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
- Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
- 1 John 3:1–3
Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is…
- Matthew 5:14–16
Through
Psalms 125:5But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.
it leads to
- Isaiah 59:8
The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.
- Isaiah 59:8
Through
Deuteronomy 32:5His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:4
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on…
- Philippians 2:15
so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
- Isaiah 1:4
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.