Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way,.... Men of uprightness and integrity, whose hearts are sincere in the ways of God; the principle of grace and righteousness in them keeps them in those ways, and will not suffer them to turn aside into crooked paths; the word of righteousness, the doctrine of the Gospel, is a means of preserving them from sin, and of keeping them in the right way; particularly the doctrine of Christ's righteousness, and justification by it, is a great antidote against sin, and a powerful motive and incentive to the performance of good works, and all the duties of religion: it engages men to observe every command of Christ, to walk in all his ways; and is a great preservative from false doctrine and antichristian worship;
but wickedness overthroweth the sinner; it is the cause of his utter overthrow, of his being punished with everlasting destruction. It is, in the Hebrew text, "sin" (b) itself; the sinner is so called, because he is perfectly wicked, as Jarchi observes; he is nothing but sin, a mere mass of sin and corruption. Aben Ezra renders it, "the man of sin"; and it may be well applied to him, who is emphatically called so, and is likewise the son of perdition; who, for his wickedness, will be overthrown and destroyed at the coming of Christ, and with the brightness of it, 2-Thessalonians 2:3.
(b) "peccatum"; Montanus, Vatablus, Cocceius, Michaelis; "lapsationem", Schultens.

An honest desire to do right, preserves a man from fatal mistakes, better than a thousand fine-drawn distinctions.

A sentiment of frequent recurrence, that piety benefits and sin injures.

6 Righteousness protecteth an upright walk,
And godlessness bringeth sinners to destruction.
The double thought is closely like that of Proverbs 11:5, but is peculiarly and almost enigmatically expressed. As there, צדקה and רשׁעה are meant of a twofold inner relation to God, which consists of a ruling influence over man's conduct and a determination of his walk. But instead of naming the persons of the תּמימי דּרך and חטּאים as the objects of this influence, the proverb uses the abstract expression, but with personal reference, תּם־דּרך and חטּאת dna תּם, and designates in two words the connection of this twofold character with the principles of their conduct. What is meant by תּצּר and תּסלּף proceeds from the contrasted relationship of the two (cf. Proverbs 22:12). נצר signifies observare, which is not suitable here, but also tueri (τηρεῖν), to which סלּף (vid., at Proverbs 11:3, and in Gesen. Thesaurus), not so much in the sense of "to turn upside down," pervertere (as Proverbs 11:3; Proverbs 23:8), as in the sense of "to overthrow," evertere (as e.g., Proverbs 21:12), forms a fitting contrast. He who walks forth with an unfeigned and untroubled pure mind stands under the shield and the protection of righteousness (cf. with this prosopopoeia Psalm 25:21), from which such a walk proceeds, and at the same time under the protection of God, to whom righteousness appertains, is well-pleasing. but he who in his conduct permits himself to be determined by sin, godlessness (cf. Zac 5:8) from which such a love for sin springs forth, brings to destruction; in other words: God, from whom the רשע, those of a perverse disposition, tear themselves away, makes the sin their snare by virtue of the inner connection established by Him between the רשׁעה and the destruction (Isaiah 9:17). In the lxx this 6th verse was originally wanting; the translation in the version of Aquila, in the Complut. and elsewhere, which the Syr. follows, falsely makes חטאת the subj.: τοὺς δὲ ἀσεβεῖς φαύλους ποιεῖ ἁμαρτία.

Keepeth him - From that over - throw which befal sinners.