Amsal 12:14
Konteks12:14 A person will be satisfied with good from the fruit of his words, 1
and the work of his hands 2 will be rendered to 3 him.
Amsal 13:2
Konteks13:2 From the fruit of his speech 4 a person eats good things, 5
but the faithless 6 desire 7 the fruit of violence. 8
Amsal 13:8
Konteks13:8 The ransom 9 of a person’s 10 life is his wealth,
but the poor person hears no threat. 11
Amsal 15:23
Konteks15:23 A person has joy 12 in giving an appropriate answer, 13
and a word at the right time 14 – how good it is!
Amsal 16:2
Konteks16:2 All a person’s ways 15 seem right 16 in his own opinion, 17
but the Lord evaluates 18 the motives. 19
Amsal 16:7
Konteks16:7 When a person’s 20 ways are pleasing to the Lord, 21
he 22 even reconciles his enemies to himself. 23
Amsal 18:12
Konteks18:12 Before destruction the heart 24 of a person is proud,
but humility comes 25 before honor. 26
Amsal 18:14
Konteks18:14 A person’s spirit 27 sustains him through sickness –
but who can bear 28 a crushed spirit? 29
Amsal 19:11
Konteks19:11 A person’s wisdom 30 makes him slow to anger, 31
and it is his glory 32 to overlook 33 an offense.
Amsal 21:2
Konteks21:2 All of a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion, 34
but the Lord evaluates 35 the motives. 36
Amsal 21:16
Konteks21:16 The one who wanders 37 from the way of wisdom 38
will end up 39 in the company of the departed. 40
Amsal 28:17
Konteks28:17 The one who is tormented 41 by the murder 42 of another will flee to the pit; 43
let no one support him.
[12:14] 1 tn Heb “fruit of the lips.” The term “fruit” is the implied comparison, meaning what is produced; and “lips” is the metonymy of cause, referring to speech. Proper speech will result in good things.
[12:14] 2 tn Heb “the work of the hands of a man.”
[12:14] 3 tc The Kethib has the Qal imperfect, “will return” to him (cf. NASB); the Qere preserves a Hiphil imperfect, “he/one will restore/render” to him (cf. KJV, ASV). The Qere seems to suggest that someone (God or people) will reward him in kind. Since there is no expressed subject, it may be translated as a passive voice.
[13:2] 4 tn Heb “lips” (so NIV); KJV “mouth.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for what the lips produce: speech.
[13:2] 5 tn Heb “he eats [what is] good.”
[13:2] 6 tn Heb “the desire of the faithless.” The noun “faithless” is a subjective genitive: “the faithless desire….”
[13:2] 7 tn The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally “soul”) has a broad range of meanings, and here denotes “appetite” (e.g., Ps 17:9; Prov 23:3; Eccl 2:24; Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5; BDB 660 s.v. 5.c) or (2) “desire” (e.g., Deut 12:20; Prov 13:4; 19:8; 21:10; BDB 660 s.v. 6.a).
[13:2] 8 tn Heb “violence.” The phrase “the fruit of” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the parallelism. The term “violence” is probably a metonymy of cause: “violence” represents what violence gains – ill-gotten gains resulting from violent crime. The wicked desire what does not belong to them.
[13:2] tc The LXX reads “the souls of the wicked perish untimely.” The MT makes sense as it stands.
[13:8] 9 sn As the word “ransom” (כֹּפֶר, cofer) indicates, the rich are susceptible to kidnapping and robbery. But the poor man pays no attention to blackmail – he does not have money to buy off oppressors. So the rich person is exposed to legal attacks and threats of physical violence and must use his wealth as ransom.
[13:8] 10 tn Heb “the life of a man.”
[13:8] 11 tn The term גְּעָרָה (gÿ’arah) may mean (1) “rebuke” (so KJV, NASB) or (2) “threat” (so NIV; cf. ASV, NRSV, NLT ). If “rebuke” is the sense here, it means that the burdens of society fall on the rich as well as the dangers. But the sense of “threat” better fits the context: The rich are threatened with extortion, but the poor are not (cf. CEV “the poor don’t have that problem”).
[15:23] 12 tn Heb “joy to the man” or “the man has joy.”
[15:23] 13 tn Heb “in the answer of his mouth” (so ASV); NASB “in an apt answer.” The term “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what he says. But because the parallelism is loosely synonymous, the answer given here must be equal to the good word spoken in season. So it is an answer that is proper or fitting.
[15:23] 14 tn Heb “in its season.” To say the right thing at the right time is useful; to say the right thing at the wrong time is counterproductive.
[16:2] 15 tn Heb “ways of a man.”
[16:2] 16 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] 17 tn Heb “in his eyes.”
[16:2] 18 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] 19 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.
[16:7] 20 tn Heb “ways of a man.”
[16:7] 21 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] 22 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] 23 tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”
[18:12] 24 sn The term “heart” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the seat of the spiritual and intellectual capacities – the mind, the will, the motivations and intentions. Proud ambitions and intentions will lead to a fall.
[18:12] 25 tn Heb “[is] before honor”; cf. CEV “humility leads to honor.”
[18:12] 26 sn The way to honor is through humility (e.g., Prov 11:2; 15:33; 16:18). The humility and exaltation of Jesus provides the classic example (Phil 2:1-10).
[18:14] 27 tn Heb “the spirit of a man.” Because the verb of this clause is a masculine form, some have translated this line as “with spirit a man sustains,” but that is an unnecessary change.
[18:14] 28 sn This is a rhetorical question, asserting that very few can cope with depression.
[18:14] 29 sn The figure of a “crushed spirit” (ASV, NAB, NCV, NRSV “a broken spirit,” comparing depression to something smashed or crushed) suggests a broken will, a loss of vitality, despair, and emotional pain. In physical sickness one can fall back on the will to live; but in depression even the will to live is gone.
[19:11] 30 tn Or “prudence,” the successful use of wisdom in discretion. Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “good sense.”
[19:11] 31 tn The Hiphil perfect of אָרַךְ (’arakh, “to be long”) means “to make long; to prolong.” Patience and slowness to anger lead to forgiveness of sins.
[19:11] 32 sn “Glory” signifies the idea of beauty or adornment. D. Kidner explains that such patience “brings out here the glowing colours of a virtue which in practice may look drably unassertive” (Proverbs [TOTC], 133).
[19:11] 33 tn Heb “to pass over” (so KJV, ASV); NCV, TEV “ignore.” The infinitive construct עֲבֹר (’avor) functions as the formal subject of the sentence. This clause provides the cause, whereas the former gave the effect – if one can pass over an offense there will be no anger.
[19:11] sn W. McKane says, “The virtue which is indicated here is more than a forgiving temper; it includes also the ability to shrug off insults and the absence of a brooding hypersensitivity…. It contains elements of toughness and self-discipline; it is the capacity to stifle a hot, emotional rejoinder and to sleep on an insult” (Proverbs [OTL], 530).
[21:2] 34 tn Heb “in his own eyes.” The term “eyes” is a metonymy for estimation, opinion, evaluation.
[21:2] 35 tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “examines”; NCV, TEV “judges.”
[21:2] 36 tn Heb “the hearts.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is used as a metonymy of association for thoughts and motives (BDB 660-61 s.v. 6-7). Even though people think they know themselves, the
[21:16] 37 tn The text uses “man” as the subject and the active participle תּוֹעֶה (to’eh) as the predicate. The image of “wandering off the path” signifies leaving a life of knowledge, prudence, and discipline.
[21:16] 38 tn Or “prudence”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “understanding”; NLT “common sense.”
[21:16] 39 tn Heb “will remain” or “will rest.” The Hebrew word נוּחַ (nuakh) does not here carry any of the connotations of comforting repose in death that the righteous enjoy; it simply means “to remain; to reside; to dwell.” The choice of this verb might have an ironic twist to it, reminding the wicked what might have been.
[21:16] 40 sn The departed are the Shades (the Rephaim). The literal expression “will rest among the Shades” means “will be numbered among the dead.” So once again physical death is presented as the punishment for folly.
[28:17] 41 tn The form is the Qal passive participle. The verb means “to oppress; to wrong; to extort”; here the idea of being “oppressed” would refer to the burden of a guilty conscience (hence “tormented”; cf. NAB, NRSV “burdened”). Some commentators have wanted to emend the text to read “suspected,” or “charged with,” or “given to,” etc., but if the motive is religious and not legal, then “oppressed” or “tormented” is preferred.
[28:17] 42 sn The text has “the blood of a life”; blood will be the metonymy of effect for the murder, the shedding of blood.
[28:17] 43 tn The verse is cryptic; it simply says that he will “flee to the pit.” Some have taken the “pit” to refer to the place of detention for prisoners, but why would he flee to that place? It seems rather to refer to death. This could mean that (1) since there is no place for him to go outside of the grave, he should flee to the pit (cf. TEV, NLT), or (2) he will be a fugitive until he goes to the grave (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV). Neither one of these options is easily derived from the text. The verse seems to be saying that the one who is guilty of murder will flee, and no one should assist him. The meaning of “the pit” is unresolved.
