Amsal 10:29

10:29 The way of the Lord ¹  is like ²  a stronghold for the upright, ³ 

but it is destruction ⁴  to evildoers. ⁵ 

Amsal 14:32

14:32 The wicked will be thrown down in his trouble, ⁶ 

but the righteous have refuge ⁷  even in the threat of death. ⁸ 

Amsal 19:1

19:1 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity ⁹ 

than one who is perverse in his speech ¹⁰  and is a fool. ¹¹ 

Amsal 29:10

29:10 Bloodthirsty people ¹²  hate someone with integrity; ¹³ 

as for the upright, they seek his life. ¹⁴ 

[10:29]  ¹ sn The “way of the Lord” is an idiom for God’s providential administration of life; it is what the Lord does (“way” being a hypocatastasis).

[10:29]  ² tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[10:29]  ³ tn Heb “for the one with integrity” (לַתֹּם, latom).

[10:29]  ⁴ tn Or “ruin” (so NIV).

[10:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who practice iniquity.”

[14:32]  ⁶ tn The prepositional phrase must be “in his time of trouble” (i.e., when catastrophe comes). Cf. CEV “In times of trouble the wicked are destroyed.” A wicked person has nothing to fall back on in such times.

[14:32]  ⁷ sn The righteous have hope in a just retribution – they have a place of safety even in death.

[14:32]  ⁸ tc The LXX reads this as “in his integrity,” as if it were בְּתוּמּוֹ (bÿtumo) instead of “in his death” (בְּמוֹתוֹ, bÿmoto). The LXX is followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB “in his honesty,” NRSV “in their integrity,” and TEV “by their integrity”).

[14:32]  tn Heb “in his death.” The term “death” may function as a metonymy of effect for a life-threatening situation.

[19:1]  ⁹ sn People should follow honesty even if it leads to poverty (e.g., Prov 18:23; 19:22).

[19:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy for what one says with his lips. The expression “perverse in his lips” refers to speech that is morally perverted. Some medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac, and Tg. Prov 19:1 have “his ways” rather than “his lips” (e.g., Prov 28:6); cf. NAB.

[19:1]  ¹¹ tc The Syriac and Tg. Prov 19:1 read “rich” instead of MT “fool.” This makes tighter antithetical parallelism than MT and is followed by NAB. However, the MT makes sense as it stands; this is an example of metonymical parallelism. The MT reading is also supported by the LXX. The Hebrew construction uses וְהוּא (vÿhu’), “and he [is],” before “fool.” This may be rendered “one who is perverse while a fool” or “a fool at the same time.”

[29:10]  ¹² tn Heb “men of bloods.” The Hebrew word for “blood” is written in the plural to reflect the shedding of blood. So the expression “men of bloods” means people who shed blood – murderers, bloodthirsty men, or those who would not hesitate to commit murder in order to get what they want.

[29:10]  ¹³ sn The Hebrew word describes the “blameless” or “innocent” who maintain integrity. The bloodthirsty despise people who insist on decency and integrity.

[29:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the upright seek his life.” There are two ways this second line can be taken. (1) One can see it as a continuation of the first line, meaning that the bloodthirsty men also “seek the life of the upright” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The difficulty is that the suffix is singular but the apparent referent is plural. (2) One can take it is as a contrast: “but as for the upright, they seek his life” – a fairly straightforward rendering (cf. ASV). The difficulty here is that “seeking a life” is normally a hostile act, but it would here be positive: “seeking” a life to preserve it. The verse would then say that the bloodthirsty hate the innocent, but the righteous protect them (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 637; cf. NAB, NASB, TEV).