17 Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yéhvah, “the Lord”) is a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.”
18 Heb “every proud of heart”; “all the proud of heart.” “Heart” is the genitive of specification; the phrase is talking about people who have proud hearts, whose ideas are arrogant. These are people who set themselves presumptuously against God (e.g., 2 Chr 26:16; Ps 131:1; Prov 18:12).
19 Heb “hand to hand.” This idiom means “you can be assured” (e.g., Prov 11:21).
20 The has inserted two couplets here: “The beginning of a good way is to do justly, // and it is more acceptable with God than to do sacrifices; // he who seeks the Lord will find knowledge with righteousness, // and they who rightly seek him will find peace.” C. H. Toy reminds the reader that there were many proverbs in existence that sounded similar to those in the book of Proverbs; these lines are in the Greek OT as well as in (Proverbs [], ). The B-line continues the A-line, but explains what it means that they are an abomination to the Lord—he will punish them. “Will not go unpunished” is an understatement (tapeinosis) to stress first that they will certainly be punished; those who humble themselves before God in faith will not be punished.