Proverbs 26:10 among differing versions ...

[nicnap]

Primarily the difference is between the KJV/NKJV and the other modern versions.
My question is, essentially, how did the KJV translators come about with their translation? I am/have been looking it over & cannot come up with it. (If I knew how, I'd post it in Hebrew ... any mods that have that capability, please feel free; when I try any Hebrew font, even a cut and paste from Bibleworks, all I get is gibberish.) Here are the verses in English, from the KJV & ESV:

Like an archer who wounds everyone is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard. ESV

The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors. KJV

With each translation that I attempt, I end up with something closer to the ESV. So, how did the KJV come up with its rendering?

 

[baron]

Do not know how the KJV came up with their reading but:

The note in my HCSB Study Bible says about verse 10: The Hebrew here was hard to understand before scholars discovered that rav could mean archer (Jb.16:13: Jr.50:29) as well as "great." Hiring a fool or some one at random is as harmful to society as a berserk shooter (v18; cp. the English idiom "loose cannon") Page 1073.

Do not know if this helps you.

 

[CharlieJ]

The following is a somewhat mutilated quote from the NET Bible:

"The first word, (rav), can mean "archer," " master," or "much." The verb (m®kholel) can mean "to wound" or "to bring forth." The possibilities are: "a master performs [or, produces] all," "a master injures all," "an archer wounds all," or "much produces all." The line probably should be stating something negative, so the idea of an archer injuring or wounding people [at random] is preferable. An undisciplined hireling will have the same effect as an archer shooting at anything and everything (cf. NLT "an archer who shoots recklessly")."

So, to get the KJV reading, if you take רַ֥ב as the subject, with its meaning "great," you can make it a substantival adjective, "great (person)," most likely referring to God, "great God." Then, you can take the verb as "who brought forth" or "who formed." Still, it leaves you having to make a conceptual leap from עֹבְרִֽים meaning people passing by to "transgressors." I think the identification of רַ֥ב with "archer" allows the verse to fall into place somewhat more naturally. The other alternative is to say that the text is corrupt.