1. Identical to 14:12 (NET) The proverb recalls the ways of the adulterous woman in chapters 1–9...The first line does not say that the “way” that seems right is “vice,” but the second line clarifies that. The individual can rationalize all he wants, but the result is still the same. The proverb warns that any evil activity can take any number of ways (plural) to destruction....Heb “the ways of death” (so KJV, ASV). This construct phrase features a genitive of destiny: “ways that lead to [or, end in] death.” Here death means ruin (e.g., Prov 7:27; 16:25)
(EBC) One should be warned that any evil activity that seems successful and safe could take any number of turns to destruction (the expression is in the plural—”roads of death”)...The issue then is how deceptive evil is. It might promise and deliver happiness, power, and the good life, but it cannot sustain what it gives.
Reflection: Man lives in deception. With no anchor of truth, we do things right to ourselves. Vacation, fun time, good food are only good when given by God. They are not the goals of our lives.
2. Comparison:
There is a way that seems right to a person,
but its end is the way that leads to death
The same "way" has 2 different views, one is to the person who did it, and the other is the reality. Who holds the "end" and have the final saying? Obviously, not the man. (EBC) which in the end provide the reality for the short-sighted evaluation.
Reflection: It reminds me that God is in control because He holds the future and He uses that to tell us how to make choices now. Do I please myself and do things that is only right in my eyes? Or do I please God who judge and give life to the righteous?
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