Bible Dictionary
PERVERSE
To be perverse is to be morally crooked, obstinate, or turned away from what is right. Biblical usage associates perverseness with wickedness, distorted judgment, and willful wrongdoing.
Definition
To be perverse is to be morally crooked, obstinate, or turned away from what is right. Perverseness may involve wickedness, distorted judgment, or a headlong course of conduct. Biblical translations use the related terms for several forms of crookedness and wrongdoing.
Biblical Usage
Biblical usage associates perverseness with wickedness, the wresting of judgment, and conduct that departs from what is right. The Revised Version sometimes substitutes more specific terms such as mischievous, wickedness, or trouble where the context requires it.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>per-vurs': The group "perverse, -ly, -ness," "act perversely" in the King James Version represents nearly 20 Hebrew words, of which, however, most are derivatives of the stems `awah, luz, `aqash. The Revised Version (British and American) has made few changes. In Job 6:30, the Revised Version (British and American) "mischievous" is better for the taste of a thing, and in Isa 59:3 greater emphasis is gained by the Revised Version (British and American) "wickedness." In Eze 9:9, "wresting of judgment" is perhaps too concrete, and "perverseness" is kept in the margin (inverted in the King James Version). the Revised Version margin "headlong" in Nu 22:32 is over-literal, but in 23:21 the American Standard Revised Version margin's "trouble" is a distinct improvement.</p>