What Does Proverbs 2:15 Mean in the King James?
Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The person and the path bend together: one word names a twisted route, while the other carries the sense of turning aside.
THE MEANING
The verse shows direction in the tracks a person keeps making: the route is bent, and the walker is turned aside within it. Crookedness here is a course, not just a single misstep.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
One wrong turn leaves the larger course unchanged.
THE ROOT
עִקְּשִׁים
iqqeshim
GROWS FROM
ע־ק־ש
ʿ-q-sh
To twist or distort; to be crooked.
“crooked” in this verse is iqqeshim. This root names a bend in the way itself, not merely an isolated step off course. The verse describes the route as already carrying the shape of that distortion.
ALSO GROWS
iqqesh: Crooked, perverse.
עִקֵּשׁ
This is the singular form of the adjective used here; the path itself is characterized as bent.
iqqeshut: Crookedness, perversity.
עִקְּשׁוּת
In Proverbs 4:24, this word describes crookedness of the mouth, connecting the bent course here with distorted speech.
וּנְלוֹזִים
u-neluzim
GROWS FROM
ל־ו־ז
l-w-z
To turn aside or depart from the straight course.
“Froward” carries movement inside it: the word comes from a root meaning to turn aside. Set within the image of their tracks, it makes the wayward walker and the bent route part of one picture.
ALSO GROWS
naluz: Wayward, perverse.
נָלוֹז
This singular form names the quality of turning aside that the verse attributes to the walkers.
lezut: Perversity, crookedness.
לְזוּת
Proverbs 4:24 uses this noun for perversity of the lips, showing the same turning aside in speech.
THE PATTERN
A bent inner direction becomes a visible route that shapes the course a person travels.
Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.THE THREAD
Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.Proverbs 4:24 uses both root families from this verse for crookedness and perversity in the mouth and lips. The same bend appears in what is spoken and in the tracks a person travels.
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