Amsal 15:23

15:23 A person has joy ¹  in giving an appropriate answer, ² 

and a word at the right time ³  – how good it is!

Amsal 17:21

17:21 Whoever brings a fool ⁴  into the world ⁵  does so ⁶  to his grief,

and the father of a fool has no joy. ⁷ 

[15:23]  ¹ tn Heb “joy to the man” or “the man has joy.”

[15:23]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[17:21]  ⁴ sn Here the Hebrew terms כְּסִיל (kÿsil) and נָבָל (naval) are paired. The first one, which occurs about fifty times in the book, refers to a dullard, whether it be in spiritual, intellectual, or moral matters. The second word, rare in the book, primarily focuses on religious folly – it refers to the practical atheist, the one who lives as if there is no God.

[17:21]  ⁵ tn The form simply means “bears” or “gives birth to,” but since it is masculine it could be rendered “fathers” (cf. NASB “he who begets a fool”; NIV “To have a fool for a son”). The form for “fool” is masculine, but the proverb is not limited only to male children (cf. NCV “It is sad to have a foolish child”).

[17:21]  ⁶ tn The phrase “does so” is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:21]  ⁷ sn Parents of fools, who had hoped for children who would be a credit to the family, find only bitter disappointment (cf. TEV “nothing but sadness and sorrow”).