(3.) =And moreover in the way= (which word ‘way’ is so constantly used in an ethical sense――Psalms cxix. 1――that we cannot overlook it here) =like that which is the wise fool’s= (the Masorets notice the article here, and pronounce it superfluous, but it is not so; for the meaning is, that it is like the perversely wise fool’s way generically, in this) that as _he walks, his heart_ (the third time ‘heart’ has occurred in this passage, raising the word into great emphasis and importance), =fails= (the Authorized Version considers this to mean a failure in wisdom, but it is rather a failure of confidence, which is the ethical meaning of the term ‘heart’) =and says= (the nearest nominative is לב, heart, and so the LXX. understood, for they render ἃ λογιεῖται, κ.τ.λ. ‘that which he thinks of’ _is_ folly; this makes good sense) =to all, perverse folly it is= (emphatic, hence the meaning is, ‘he is out of heart altogether,’ or ‘his heart misgives him;’ and it says, ‘what perverse folly it all really is.’ Conscience convicts those clever wicked plans, and they who devise them know that they are only elaborate mistakes). 4 If the spirit of the ruler │ If the spirit of the ruling rise up against thee, leave │ one should go forth against not thy place; for yielding │ thee, thy station do not quit, pacifieth great offences. │ because a remedy may cure │ wicked errors which are great. (4.) =If a spirit= of =the ruling one= (not, as usually rendered, the ruler, which does not exactly convey the idea) =goes up against thee= (the LXX. show that they so understood it by rendering πνεῦμα τοῦ ἐξουσιάζοντος) =thy place do not yield= (the sense of the passage is, ‘If there be too strong a spirit against you, if you are sailing, as it were, in the teeth of the wind, do not yield when you have good grounds for remaining:’ this makes excellent sense, is cognate to the accompanying passages, and follows the LXX.) =for a healing= (מרפא, occurs Proverbs xiv. 30 and xv. 4 only, the LXX. read ἴαμα, ‘a remedy’) =pacifies mistakes= (with the usual idea of culpability attaching to this word) =great ones= (the idea is ‘do not yield to mere adverse _circumstances_ when even culpable _mistakes_ admit of a remedy.’) 5 There is an evil _which_ I │ There exists an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an │ have observed in this work-day error _which_ proceedeth ¹from │ world, like an error which goes the ruler: │ forth from before the face of │ the Powerful, ¹ _Hebrew_ from before. │