Amsal 4:18

4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light, ¹ 

growing brighter and brighter ²  until full day. ³ 

Amsal 9:9

9:9 Give instruction ⁴  to a wise person, ⁵  and he will become wiser still;

teach ⁶  a righteous person and he will add to his ⁷  learning.

Amsal 11:28

11:28 The one who trusts in his riches will fall,

but the righteous ⁸  will flourish like a green leaf. ⁹ 

Amsal 24:15-16

24:15 Do not lie in wait like the wicked ¹⁰  against the place where the righteous live;

do not assault ¹¹  his home.

24:16 Although ¹²  a righteous person may fall seven times, he gets up again,

but the wicked will be brought down ¹³  by calamity.

[4:18]  ¹ tn Heb “like light of brightness.” This construction is an attributive genitive: “bright light.” The word “light” (אוֹר, ’or) refers to the early morning light or the dawn (BDB 21 s.v.). The point of the simile is that the course of life that the righteous follow is like the clear, bright morning light. It is illumined, clear, easy to follow, and healthy and safe – the opposite of what darkness represents.

[4:18]  ² tn The construction uses the Qal active participle of הָלַךְ (halakh) in a metaphorical sense to add the idea of continuance or continually to the participle הוֹלֵךְ (holekh). Here the path was growing light, but the added participle signifies continually.

[4:18]  ³ tn Heb “until the day is established.” This expression refers to the coming of the full day or the time of high noon.

[9:9]  ⁴ tn The noun “instruction” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation.

[9:9]  ⁵ sn The parallelism shows what Proverbs will repeatedly stress, that the wise person is the righteous person.

[9:9]  ⁶ tn The Hiphil verb normally means “to cause to know, make known”; but here the context suggests “to teach” (so many English versions).

[9:9]  ⁷ tn The term “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of smoothness and clarity.

[11:28]  ⁸ sn The implication from the parallelism is that the righteous do not trust in their own riches, but in the Lord.

[11:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “leafage” or “leaf” (cf. KJV “as a branch”); TEV “leaves of summer”; NLT “leaves in spring.” The simile of a leaf is a figure of prosperity and fertility throughout the ancient Near East.

[24:15]  ¹⁰ tn The word “wicked” could be taken as a vocative (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, “O wicked man”); but since the next line refers to the wicked this is unlikely. It serves better as an adverbial accusative (“like the wicked”).

[24:15]  ¹¹ sn The saying warns that it is futile and self-defeating to mistreat God’s people, for they survive – the wicked do not. The warning is against a deliberate, planned assault on their places of dwelling.

[24:16]  ¹² tn The clause beginning with כִּי (ki) could be interpreted as causal or conditional; but in view of the significance of the next clause it seems better to take it as a concessive clause (“although”). Its verb then receives a modal nuance of possibility. The apodosis is then “and he rises up,” which could be a participle or a perfect tense; although he may fall, he gets up (or, will get up).

[24:16]  sn The righteous may suffer adversity or misfortune any number of times – seven times here – but they will “rise” for virtue triumphs over evil in the end (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 140).

[24:16]  ¹³ tn The verb could be translated with an English present tense (“are brought down,” so NIV) to express what happens to the wicked in this life; but since the saying warns against being like the wicked, their destruction is more likely directed to the future.