Amsal 17:26

17:26 It is terrible ¹  to punish ²  a righteous person,

and to flog ³  honorable men is wrong. ⁴ 

Amsal 23:13

23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;

even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

Amsal 23:35

23:35 You will say, ⁵  “They have struck me, but I am not harmed!

They beat me, but I did not know it! ⁶ 

When will I awake? I will look for another drink.” ⁷ 

[17:26]  ¹ tn Heb “not good.” This is an example of tapeinosis – an understatement that implies the worst-case scenario: “it is terrible.”

[17:26]  ² tn The verb עָנַשׁ, here a Qal infinitive construct, properly means “to fine” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT) but is taken here to mean “to punish” in general. The infinitive functions as the subject of the clause.

[17:26]  ³ tn The form is the Hiphil infinitive construct from נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike; to smite”). It may well refer to public beatings, so “flog” is used in the translation, since “strike” could refer to an individual’s action and “beat” could be taken to refer to competition.

[17:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “[is] against uprightness.” The expression may be rendered “contrary to what is right.”

[17:26]  sn The two lines could be synonymous parallelism; but the second part is being used to show how wrong the first act would be – punishing the righteous makes about as much sense as beating an official of the court for doing what is just.

[23:35]  ⁵ tn The phrase “You will say” is supplied in the translation to make it clear that the drunkard is now speaking.

[23:35]  ⁶ sn The line describes how one who is intoxicated does not feel the pain, even though beaten by others. He does not even remember it.

[23:35]  ⁷ tn The last line has only “I will add I will seek it again.” The use of אוֹסִיף (’osif) signals a verbal hendiadys with the next verb: “I will again seek it.” In this context the suffix on the verb refers to the wine – the drunkard wants to go and get another drink.