Pro 16:27 | NETfull | STEP | A wicked scoundrel digs up evil, and his slander is like a scorching fire.

Proverbs 16:27

27 A wicked scoundrel ^{▼▼ Heb “a man of belial.” This phrase means “wicked scoundrel.” Some translate “worthless” (so ASV, NASB, CEV), but the phrase includes deep depravity and wickedness (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 125–26).} digs up ^{▼▼ Heb “digs up” (so NASB). The “wicked scoundrel” finds out about evil and brings it to the surface (Prov 26:27; Jer 18:20). What he digs up he spreads by speech.} evil,
and his slander ^{▼▼ Heb “on his lips” (so NAB) The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause. To say that “evil” is on his lips means that he talks about the evil he has dug up.} is like a scorching fire. ^{▼▼ The simile stresses the devastating way that slander hurts people. W. McKane says that this one “digs for scandal and…propagates it with words which are ablaze with misanthropy” (Proverbs [OTL], 494).}