Amsal 12:16

12:16 A fool’s annoyance ¹  is known at once, ² 

but the prudent ³  overlooks ⁴  an insult.

Amsal 19:19

19:19 A person with great anger bears the penalty, ⁵ 

but if you deliver him from it once, you will have to do it again. ⁶ 

Amsal 21:24

21:24 A proud ⁷  and arrogant ⁸  person, whose name is “Scoffer,” ⁹ 

acts ¹⁰  with overbearing pride. ¹¹ 

Amsal 27:3-4

27:3 A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,

but vexation ¹²  by a fool is more burdensome ¹³  than the two of them.

27:4 Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming, ¹⁴ 

but who can stand before jealousy? ¹⁵ 

[12:16]  ¹ tn Heb “The fool, at once his vexation is known.” This rhetorically emphatic construction uses an independent nominative absolute, which is then followed by the formal subject with a suffix. The construction focuses attention on “the fool,” then states what is to be said about him.

[12:16]  ² tn Heb “on the day” or “the same day.”

[12:16]  sn The fool is impatient and unwise, and so flares up immediately when anything bothers him. W. McKane says that the fool’s reaction is “like an injured animal and so his opponent knows that he has been wounded” (Proverbs [OTL], 442).

[12:16]  ³ tn Heb “shrewd.”

[12:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “covers.” The verb כָּסָה (casah) means “covers” in the sense of ignores or bides his time. The point is not that he does not respond at all, but that he is shrewd enough to handle the criticism or insult in the best way – not instinctively and irrationally.

[19:19]  ⁵ sn The Hebrew word means “indemnity, fine”; this suggests that the trouble could be legal, and the angry person has to pay for it.

[19:19]  ⁶ tn The second colon of the verse is very difficult, and there have been many proposals as to its meaning: (1) “If you save [your enemy], you will add [good to yourself]”; (2) “If you save [your son by chastening], you may continue [chastisement and so educate him]”; (3) “If you deliver [him by paying the fine for him once], you will have to do it again”; (4) “If you save [him this time], you will have to increase [the punishment later on].” All interpretations have to supply a considerable amount of material (indicated by brackets). Many English versions are similar to (3).

[21:24]  ⁷ tn The word זֵד (zed, “proud”) comes from the verb זִיד (zid, “to boil up; to seethe; to act proudly [or, presumptuously].” Just as water boiling up in a pot will boil over, so the presumptuous person “oversteps” the boundaries.

[21:24]  ⁸ tn The word יָהִיר (yahir) means “haughty,” that is, to be or show oneself to be presumptuous or arrogant.

[21:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “proud haughty scorner his name” (KJV similar). There are several ways that the line could be translated: (1) “Proud, arrogant – his name is scoffer” or (2) “A proud person, an arrogant person – ‘Scoffer’ is his name.” BDB 267 s.v. זֵד suggests, “A presumptuous man, [who is] haughty, scoffer is his name.”

[21:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “does.” The Qal active participle “does” serves as the main verb, and the subject is “proud person” in the first line.

[21:24]  ¹¹ tn The expression בְּעֶבְרַת זָדוֹן (be’evrat zadon) means “in the overflow of insolence.” The genitive specifies what the overflow is; the proud deal in an overflow of pride. Cf. NIV “overweening pride”; NLT “boundless arrogance.”

[21:24]  sn The portrait in this proverb is not merely of one who is self-sufficient, but one who is insolent, scornful, and arrogant.

[27:3]  ¹² tn The subject matter is the vexation produced by a fool. The term כַּעַס (ca’as) means “vexation” (ASV); provocation” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); “anger” (KJV “wrath”) and usually refers to undeserved treatment. Cf. NLT “the resentment caused by a fool.”

[27:3]  sn The same noun is used in 1 Sam 1:6, 16 for the “provocation” given to Hannah by Peninnah for being barren.

[27:3]  ¹³ sn The contrast is made between dealing with the vexation of a fool and physical labor (moving stones and sand). More tiring is the vexation of a fool, for the mental and emotional effort it takes to deal with it is more draining than physical labor. It is, in the sense of this passage, almost unbearable.

[27:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “fierceness of wrath and outpouring [= flood] of anger.” A number of English versions use “flood” here (e.g., NASB, NCV, NLT).

[27:4]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “jealousy” here probably has the negative sense of “envy” rather than the positive sense of “zeal.” It is a raging emotion (like “anger” and “wrath,” this word has nuances of heat, intensity) that defies reason at times and can be destructive like a consuming fire (e.g., 6:32-35; Song 8:6-7). The rhetorical question is intended to affirm that no one can survive a jealous rage. (Whether one is the subject who is jealous or the object of the jealousy of someone else is not so clear.)