Pro 4:16 | KD | STEP | In the reason here given the perf. may stand in the conditional clauses as well as in Virgil’s Et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses ; but the fut., as in , denotes that they (the רעים and the רשׁעים) cannot sleep, and are deprived of their sleep, unless they are continually doing evil and bringing others into misery; the interruption of this course of conduct, which has become to them like a second nature, would be as the interruption of their diet, which makes them ill. For the Kal יכשׁולוּ, which here must have the meaning of the person sinning (cf. ), and would be feeble if used of the confirmed transgressors, the Kerı̂ rightly substitutes the Hiphil יכשׁילוּ, which occurs also , there without an object, in the meaning to cause to fall, as the contrast of עזר (to help).

‏ Proverbs 4:16

In the reason here given the perf. may stand in the conditional clauses as well as in Virgil’s Et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses; but the fut., as in Ecc 5:11, denotes that they (the רעים and the רשׁעים) cannot sleep, and are deprived of their sleep, unless they are continually doing evil and bringing others into misery; the interruption of this course of conduct, which has become to them like a second nature, would be as the interruption of their diet, which makes them ill. For the Kal יכשׁולוּ, which here must have the meaning of the person sinning (cf. Pro 4:19), and would be feeble if used of the confirmed transgressors, the Kerı̂ rightly substitutes the Hiphil יכשׁילוּ, which occurs also 2Ch 25:8, there without an object, in the meaning to cause to fall, as the contrast of עזר (to help).