Hebrew word · H3868

לוּז

uneloz

be devious

Basic sense: turn aside, swerve, slip away (Qal, Prov 3:21; 4:21). In the niphal (a passive or reflexive form) it means to be turned aside, devious, crooked (Prov 2:15, "devious in their tracks"; 14:2, "devious in his ways"; Isa 30:12, "deviousness" next to oppression).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to depart, turn aside

1a) (Qal) to depart

1b) (Niphal)

1b1) to go wrong, go crooked

1b2) devious, perverse (participle)

1c) (Hiphil)

1c1) to be lost from view

1c2) to become devious

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 3:32

Range of meaning

Basic sense: turn aside, swerve, slip away (Qal, Prov 3:21; 4:21). In the niphal (a passive or reflexive form) it means to be turned aside, devious, crooked (Prov 2:15, "devious in their tracks"; 14:2, "devious in his ways"; Isa 30:12, "deviousness" next to oppression).

Against the English

KJV "froward" (literally "turned from," an old word with the right picture), BSB/NIV/WEB "perverse," YLT "perverted," ESV "devious person." "Devious" is closest, since its Latin root (de via, "off the road") has the same picture.

How it drifted

"Perverse" and especially "perverted" now suggest sexual deviance to most readers. The Hebrew is about deceitful, crooked dealing: a road that bends away from straight.

Used elsewhere in the period

Prov 2:12-15 builds the full picture: men who "leave the paths of uprightness (yosher) to walk in the ways of darkness... crooked in their paths and devious (nalozim) in their tracks." Isa 30:12 pairs naloz with oshek, oppression, so it is a word about social wrongdoing.

From the study of Isaiah 30:12

Range of meaning

From a verb meaning 'to turn aside, depart'. In this form it means devious, crooked, twisted: something or someone that has left the straight path. It is used of crooked ways and devious people.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'perverseness' now sounds sexual to many readers, which is not the meaning. BSB/NIV 'deceit' captures the dishonesty but loses the picture of a path that bends away.

How it drifted

English 'perverse' and 'perversion' narrowed in the 20th century toward sexual meaning. In 1611 'perverseness' meant 'turned the wrong way, wrongheaded, crooked'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 2:15 ('whose paths are crooked'), 3:32 ('the devious person is an abomination to the LORD'), 14:2 ('he who is devious in his ways despises him').

From the study of Proverbs 2:15

Range of meaning

To turn aside or depart. In the form used here (a passive-reflexive participle) it means 'devious, crooked, shifty': someone who keeps slipping off the straight line. Related words: nālôz 'the devious person' (Prov 3:32, 'an abomination to the LORD'); nəlôz dərākāyw 'devious in his ways' (Prov 14:2); ləzût 'deviousness (of lips)' (Prov 4:24); nālôz paired with oppression in Isa 30:12.

Against the English

BSB 'devious' and the common modern 'devious in their ways' capture the deceit well. WEB 'wayward' keeps the physical picture of straying off the path. KJV 'froward' meant 'turned away, contrary' in 1611 and was a fair rendering, but to a modern ear it is opaque and easily misheard as 'forward'. YLT 'perverted' now carries a sexual meaning the Hebrew does not have.

How it drifted

'Froward' (from 'fro' + '-ward', 'turned away from') dropped out of everyday English after the 17th century. 'Perverted' moved toward a mainly sexual sense in the 19th–20th centuries.

Used elsewhere in the period

Concentrated in the wisdom books: Prov 2:15; 3:32; 4:24; 14:2. Also Isa 30:12. In Prov 3:32 the devious person is set directly against 'the upright' (yəshārîm), the same straight/crooked contrast as here.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 5

  1. Proverbs 2:15 וּ֝נְלוֹזִ֗ים and [who are] crooked

    whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.

    Here: "And turning aside": a verb form describing the men themselves. They keep veering off the line and sidling away. In Hebrew the word suggests shiftiness and deceit, the kind of person you cannot pin down or trust.

  2. Proverbs 3:21 יָלֻ֣זוּ they depart

    My son, do not lose sight of this: Preserve sound judgment and discernment.

    Here: 'Let them not turn aside / slip away.' The picture is something veering off the path and out of view. The grammatical subject 'they' is not named (see debates). In other forms the same root describes the 'devious' or 'crooked' person, and verse 32 of this lecture uses it that way.

  3. Proverbs 3:32 נָל֑וֹז a crooked [person]

    for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.

    Here: "One who has turned aside": a person who has left the straight road for a bent, sly one. It means crooked dealing and deceit, not sexual deviance. It echoes v. 21, where the father says "let them not slip away (luz) from your eyes."

  4. Proverbs 4:21 יַלִּ֥יזוּ let them depart

    Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.

  5. Proverbs 14:2 וּנְל֖וֹז and [the] [one who] is crooked of

    He who walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises Him.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 30:12 וְנָל֔וֹז and a crooked [thing]

    Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,

    Here: 'And what is crooked', literally something that has turned aside from the straight path. It echoes verse 11, where the people told the prophets to 'turn aside from the way'.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.