Viewpoints

(Pro 14:17 KJV)  He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.

I constantly wonder about what goes on in the heads of translators.  I guess I should be glad I don’t have the skills to be forced to struggle with the choices they need to make.  I focus again today on the concept of “evil devices” (4209).  The translations of this are all over the map.  It is a word that basically applies to someone who is carefully planning what they are going to do.  Whether it is translated “evil devices” or “discretion” seems to depend on the context, and to be honest, the mood of the scholar doing the work.  

Either way it would seem that people who carefully plan where they are going make the masses uncomfortable.  Think of what are being called “preppers”.  They look at history and current events and decide that it is a good idea to have extra water and food stored away.  If you agree with them you praise their wisdom.  If you don’t, they are panic mongering.  Same action, opposite response.

So?  Again the mantra:  Find out God’s standards and live by them.  If it is a moral issue like the ones involving abortion and sexual behavior or a financial decision about tithing, God gives us directions and we need to follow them, not the pagans in the world and the church.