Amsal 15:3
Konteks15:3 The eyes of the Lord 1 are in every place,
keeping watch 2 on those who are evil and those who are good.
Amsal 15:8-9
Konteks15:8 The Lord abhors 3 the sacrifices 4 of the wicked, 5
but the prayer 6 of the upright pleases him. 7
15:9 The Lord abhors 8 the way of the wicked,
but he loves those 9 who pursue 10 righteousness.
Amsal 15:11
Konteks15:11 Death and Destruction 11 are before the Lord –
how much more 12 the hearts of humans! 13
Amsal 16:1-9
Konteks16:1 The intentions of the heart 14 belong to a man, 15
but the answer of the tongue 16 comes from 17 the Lord. 18
16:2 All a person’s ways 19 seem right 20 in his own opinion, 21
but the Lord evaluates 22 the motives. 23
16:3 Commit 24 your works 25 to the Lord,
and your plans will be established. 26
16:4 The Lord works 27 everything for its own ends 28 –
even the wicked for the day of disaster. 29
16:5 The Lord abhors 30 every arrogant person; 31
rest assured 32 that they will not go unpunished. 33
16:6 Through loyal love and truth 34 iniquity is appeased; 35
through fearing the Lord 36 one avoids 37 evil. 38
16:7 When a person’s 39 ways are pleasing to the Lord, 40
he 41 even reconciles his enemies to himself. 42
16:8 Better to have a little with righteousness 43
than to have abundant income without justice. 44
[15:3] 1 sn The proverb uses anthropomorphic language to describe God’s exacting and evaluating knowledge of all people.
[15:3] 2 tn The form צֹפוֹת (tsofot, “watching”) is a feminine plural participle agreeing with “eyes.” God’s watching eyes comfort good people but convict evil.
[15:8] 3 tn Heb “an abomination of the
[15:8] 4 tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).
[15:8] 5 sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the
[15:8] 6 sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).
[15:8] 7 tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.
[15:9] 8 tn Heb “an abomination of the
[15:9] 9 tn Heb “the one who” (so NRSV).
[15:9] 10 sn God hates the way of the wicked, that is, their lifestyle and things they do. God loves those who pursue righteousness, the Piel verb signifying a persistent pursuit. W. G. Plaut says, “He who loves God will be moved to an active, persistent, and even dangerous search for justice” (Proverbs, 170).
[15:11] 11 tn Heb “Sheol and Abaddon” (שְׁאוֹל וַאֲבַדּוֹן (shÿ’ol va’adon); so ASV, NASB, NRSV; cf. KJV “Hell and destruction”; NAB “the nether world and the abyss.” These terms represent the remote underworld and all the mighty powers that reside there (e.g., Prov 27:20; Job 26:6; Ps 139:8; Amos 9:2; Rev 9:11). The
[15:11] 12 tn The construction אַף כִּי (’af ki, “how much more!”) introduces an argument from the lesser to the greater: If all this is open before the
[15:11] 13 tn Heb “the hearts of the sons of man,” although here “sons of man” simply means “men” or “human beings.”
[16:1] 14 tn Heb “plans of the heart” (so ASV, NASB, NIV). The phrase מַעַרְכֵי־לֵב (ma’arkhe-lev) means “the arrangements of the mind.”
[16:1] sn Humans may set things in order, plan out what they are going to say, but God sovereignly enables them to put their thoughts into words.
[16:1] 15 tn Heb “[are] to a man.”
[16:1] 16 tn Here “the tongue” is a metonymy of cause in which the instrument of speech is put for what is said: the answer expressed.
[16:1] 17 sn The contrasting prepositions enhance the contrasting ideas – the ideas belong to people, but the words come from the
[16:1] 18 sn There are two ways this statement can be taken: (1) what one intends to say and what one actually says are the same, or (2) what one actually says differs from what the person intended to say. The second view fits the contrast better. The proverb then is giving a glimpse of how God even confounds the wise. When someone is trying to speak [“answer” in the book seems to refer to a verbal answer] before others, the
[16:2] 19 tn Heb “ways of a man.”
[16:2] 20 sn The Hebrew term translated “right” (z~E) means “innocent” (NIV) or “pure” (NAB, NRSV, NLT). It is used in the Bible for pure oils or undiluted liquids; here it means unmixed actions. Therefore on the one hand people rather naively conclude that their actions are fine.
[16:2] 21 tn Heb “in his eyes.”
[16:2] 22 tn The figure (a hypocatastasis) of “weighing” signifies “evaluation” (e.g., Exod 5:8; 1 Sam 2:3; 16:7; Prov 21:2; 24:12). There may be an allusion to the Egyptian belief of weighing the heart after death to determine righteousness. But in Hebrew thought it is an ongoing evaluation as well, not merely an evaluation after death.
[16:2] 23 tn Heb “spirits” (so KJV, ASV). This is a metonymy for the motives, the intentions of the heart (e.g., 21:2 and 24:2).
[16:2] sn Humans deceive themselves rather easily and so appear righteous in their own eyes; but the proverb says that God evaluates motives and so he alone can determine if the person’s ways are innocent.
[16:3] 24 tc The MT reads גֹּל (gol, “commit”) from the root גָּלַל (galal, “to roll”). The LXX and Tg. Prov 16:3 have “reveal” as if the root were גָּלָה (galah, “to reveal”).
[16:3] tn Heb “roll.” The verb גֹּל (“to commit”) is from the root גָּלַל (“to roll”). The figure of rolling (an implied comparison or hypocatastasis), as in rolling one’s burdens on the
[16:3] 25 tn The suffix on the plural noun would be a subjective genitive: “the works you are doing,” or here, “the works that you want to do.”
[16:3] 26 tn The syntax of the second clause shows that there is subordination: The vav on וְיִכֹּנוּ (vÿyikonu) coming after the imperative of the first clause expresses that this clause is the purpose or result. People should commit their works in order that the
[16:4] 27 sn The Hebrew verb translated “works” (פָּעַל, pa’al) means “to work out; to bring about; to accomplish.” It is used of God’s sovereign control of life (e.g., Num 23:23; Isa 26:12).
[16:4] 28 tn Heb “for its answer.” The term לַמַּעֲנֵהוּ (lamma’anehu) has been taken to mean either “for his purpose” or “for its answer.” The Hebrew word is מַעֲנֶה (ma’aneh, “answer”) and not לְמַעַן (lÿma’an, “purpose”). So the suffix likely refers to “everything” (כֹּל, kol). God ensures that everyone’s actions and the consequences of those actions correspond – certainly the wicked for the day of calamity. In God’s order there is just retribution for every act.
[16:4] 29 sn This is an example of synthetic parallelism (“A, what’s more B”). The A-line affirms a truth, and the B-line expands on it with a specific application about the wicked – whatever disaster comes their way is an appropriate correspondent for their life.
[16:5] 30 tn Heb “an abomination of the
[16:5] 31 tn Heb “every proud of heart”; NIV “all the proud of heart.” “Heart” is the genitive of specification; the phrase is talking about people who have proud hearts, whose ideas are arrogant. These are people who set themselves presumptuously against God (e.g., 2 Chr 26:16; Ps 131:1; Prov 18:12).
[16:5] 32 tn Heb “hand to hand.” This idiom means “you can be assured” (e.g., Prov 11:21).
[16:5] 33 tc The LXX has inserted two couplets here: “The beginning of a good way is to do justly, // and it is more acceptable with God than to do sacrifices; // he who seeks the
[16:5] tn The B-line continues the A-line, but explains what it means that they are an abomination to the
[16:6] 34 sn These two words are often found together to form a nominal hendiadys: “faithful loyal love.” The couplet often characterize the
[16:6] 35 tn Heb “is atoned”; KJV “is purged”; NAB “is expiated.” The verb is from I כָּפַר (kafar, “to atone; to expiate; to pacify; to appease”; HALOT 493-94 s.v. I כפר). This root should not be confused with the identically spelled Homonym II כָּפַר (kafar, “to cover over”; HALOT 494 s.v. II *כפר). Atonement in the OT expiated sins, it did not merely cover them over (cf. NLT). C. H. Toy explains the meaning by saying it affirms that the divine anger against sin is turned away and man’s relation to God is as though he had not sinned (Proverbs [ICC], 322). Genuine repentance, demonstrated by loyalty and truthfulness, appeases the anger of God against one’s sin.
[16:6] 36 tn Heb “fear of the
[16:6] 37 tn Heb “turns away from”; NASB “keeps away from.”
[16:6] 38 sn The Hebrew word translated “evil” (רַע, ra’) can in some contexts mean “calamity” or “disaster,” but here it seems more likely to mean “evil” in the sense of sin. Faithfulness to the
[16:7] 39 tn Heb “ways of a man.”
[16:7] 40 tn The first line uses an infinitive in a temporal clause, followed by its subject in the genitive case: “in the taking pleasure of the
[16:7] 41 tn The referent of the verb in the second colon is unclear. The straightforward answer is that it refers to the person whose ways please the
[16:7] 42 tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”
[16:8] 43 sn The lines contrast the modest income with the abundant income; but the real contrast is between righteousness and the lack of justice (or injustice). “Justice” is used for both legal justice and ethical conduct. It is contrasted with righteousness in 12:5 and 21:7; it describes ethical behavior in 21:3. Here the point is that unethical behavior tarnishes the great gain and will be judged by God.
[16:8] 44 sn This is another “better” saying; between these two things, the first is better. There are other options – such as righteousness with wealth – but the proverb is not concerned with that. A similar saying appears in Amenemope 8:19-20 (ANET 422).
[16:9] 45 tn Heb “the heart of a man.” This stresses that it is within the heart that plans are made. Only those plans that are approved by God will succeed.
[16:9] 46 tn Heb “his way” (so KJV, NASB).
[16:9] 47 tn The verb כּוּן (kun, “to establish; to confirm”) with צַעַד (tsa’ad, “step”) means “to direct” (e.g., Ps 119:133; Jer 10:23). This contrasts what people plan and what actually happens – God determines the latter.
[16:9] 48 sn “Steps” is an implied comparison, along with “way,” to indicate the events of the plan as they work out.
