Amsal 17:14

17:14 Starting a quarrel ¹  is like letting out water; ² 

stop it before strife breaks out! ³ 

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 

Amsal 17:25

17:25 A foolish child is a grief ⁸  to his father,

and bitterness to the mother who bore him. ⁹ 

[17:14]  ¹ tn Heb “the beginning of a quarrel”; TEV, CEV “The start of an argument.”

[17:14]  ² tn The verse simply begins with “letting out water.” This phrase is a metaphor, but most English versions have made it a simile (supplying “like” or “as”). R. N. Whybray takes it literally and makes it the subject of the clause: “stealing water starts a quarrel” (Proverbs [CBC], 100). However, the verb more likely means “to let out, set free” and not “to steal,” for which there are clearer words.

[17:14]  sn The image involves a small leak in a container or cistern that starts to spurt out water. The problem will get worse if it is not stopped. Strife is like that.

[17:14]  tc The LXX has “The outpouring of words is the beginning of strife.” This would make it a warning against thoughtless talk.

[17:14]  ³ tn The temporal clause is formed with the prepositional “before,” the infinitive construct, and the following subjective genitive. The verb גָּלַע (gala’) means “to expose; to lay bare,” and in the Hitpael “to disclose oneself; to break out.”

[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”).

[17:25]  ⁸ sn The Hebrew noun means “vexation, anger, grief.”

[17:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “to the one who bore him.” Because the participle is feminine singular in Hebrew, this has been translated as “the mother who bore him.”

[17:25]  sn The proverb is similar to v. 21, 10:1, and 15:20.