Do they not err that devise evil? or, Will they not go astray? The question is an emphatic mode of asserting the truth. They who meditate and practise evil (Proverbs 3:29; Proverbs 6:14) go astray from the right way—the way of life; their views are distorted, and they no longer see their proper course.
Thus the remorseful voluptuary bemoans himself, "We have erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction; yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way; but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it" (Wis.
5:6, etc.), Mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. God's blessing will rest upon them. The combination of "mercy and truth" is found in Psalms 61:7; in Wis. 3:9 and 4:15, and in 1 Timothy 1:2 we have "grace and mercy" (see note on Proverbs 3:3, where the two words occur in connection; and comp.
Proverbs 16:6; Proverbs 20:28). The two graces in the text signify the love and mercy which God bestows on the righteous, and the truth and fidelity with which he keeps the promises which he has made.
The Vulgate makes the two graces human, not Divine: "Mercy and truth procure blessings." The Septuagint renders, "The good devise mercy and truth." It adds a paraphrase not found in the Hebrew, "The devisers of evil know not mercy and faith; but alms and faith are with the devisers of good."