An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,.... Or, "thoughts of wickedness" (e); which are framed and formed in the heart: and this being the source and fountain of all wickedness, is placed in the midst of these hateful and abominable things; See Gill on Proverbs 6:14; evil thoughts and designs, both against God and men, are intended, which are forged and fabricated in the wicked heart of man; and may respect the depths of Satan in the antichristian beast of Rome, Revelation 2:24;

feet that be swift in running to mischief; to commit all manner of sin with greediness, especially murder; see Proverbs 1:16.

(e) "cogitationes iniquitatis", Montanus; "cogitationes vanitatis", Cocceius.

The fourth characteristic is a deceitful heart. On חרשׁ, vid., Proverbs 6:14, Proverbs 3:29, and on אין, Proverbs 6:12. The fifth: feet running with haste to evil; לרעה as לרע in Isaiah 59:7, echoing the distich Proverbs 1:16, as here, 17b and 18b. The connection מהר לרוּץ, propere cucurrit (contrast אחר ל), is equivalent to רץ מהר.

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, {h} feet that be swift in running to mischief,

(h) Meaning, the raging affections, which carry a man away in such sort that he cannot tell what he does.

6:18 Deviseth - He whose practice it is to contrive wickedness. Swift - Such as greedily execute their wicked designs.

6:12-19 If the slothful are to be condemned, who do nothing, much more those that do all the ill they can. Observe how such a man is described. He says and does every thing artfully, and with design. His ruin shall come without warning, and without relief. Here is a list of things hateful to God. Those sins are in a special manner provoking to God, which are hurtful to the comfort of human life. These things which God hates, we must hate in ourselves; it is nothing to hate them in others. Let us shun all such practices, and watch and pray against them; and avoid, with marked disapproval, all who are guilty of them, whatever may be their rank.