Evildoers are trapped by their sinful talk, and so the innocent escape trouble
Typical lines of parallel Hebrew poetry, this wise saying contrasts “evildoers” and “the innocent.” But, as is frequent in Proverbs, words are at the center of this story.
Here it’s the “sinful talk” of “evildoers” that has “trapped” them. Their own inappropriate words — no one else’s — become a trap in which they get caught, themselves.
These “evildoers” didn’t necessarily plan this trap for someone else, it’s just that they talked themselves into a trap. They created their own trap, apparently because they just wouldn’t stop talking!
On the other side is the “innocent” — actually, the standard Hebrew term for “righteous.” While “evildoers” trap themselves by their own mouths, the “innocent/righteous” constantly “escape trouble.”
Being “righteous” in thoughts and attitudes suggests a couple of things. First, they probably don’t create a bunch of problems for themselves.
And, secondly, when “trouble” does come — from elsewhere — both their “innocent/righteous” thinking and their “righteous” God keeps them from getting all caught up. That spells “escape” every time!