Proverbs 21:4

the plowing This, which is an admissible rendering, is virtually retained (the tillage) in R.V. marg. The haughty bearing, the proud look, the prosperous labours of the wicked are alike condemned as "sin." But it is better to render lamp, instead of plowingor tillage, even the lamp of the wicked is sin. λαμπτήρ, LXX.; lucerna, Vulg.

The lamp burning brightly and steadily in the tent or house is the symbol of the prosperity of an individual (Proverbs 13:9; Job 18:6; and of a dynasty, 1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 15:4). But in the case of "the wicked," instead of being accepted with humble thankfulness as lighted by Jehovah (Psalms 18:28), it finds expression in "an high look and a proud heart," and therefore "is sin."