Amsal 6:15

6:15 Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly;

in an instant ¹  he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.

Amsal 7:26

7:26 for she has brought down ²  many fatally wounded,

and all those she has slain are many. ³ 

Amsal 13:23

13:23 There is abundant food in the field ⁴  of the poor,

but it is swept away by injustice. ⁵ 

Amsal 15:23

15:23 A person has joy ⁶  in giving an appropriate answer, ⁷ 

and a word at the right time ⁸  – how good it is!

Amsal 28:25

28:25 The greedy person ⁹  stirs up dissension, ¹⁰ 

but the one who trusts ¹¹  in the Lord will prosper. ¹² 

[6:15]  ¹ tn This word is a substantive that is used here as an adverbial accusative – with suddenness, at an instant.

[7:26]  ² tn Heb “she has caused to fall.”

[7:26]  ³ tn Heb “numerous” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT) or “countless.”

[13:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “fallow ground” (so NASB). The word נִיר (nir) means “the tillable [or untilled; or fallow] ground.” BDB 644 s.v. says this line could be rendered: “abundant food [yields] the fallow ground of poor men” (i.e., with the Lord’s blessing).

[13:23]  ⁵ tc The MT reads “there is what is swept away because [there is] no justice” (וְיֵשׁ נִסְפֶּה בְּלֹא מִשְׁפָּט, vÿyesh nispeh bÿlo’ mishpat). The LXX reads “the great enjoy wealth many years, but some men perish little by little.” The Syriac reads “those who have no habitation waste wealth many years, and some waste it completely.” Tg. Prov 13:23 reads “the great man devours the land of the poor, and some men are taken away unjustly.” The Vulgate has “there is much food in the fresh land of the fathers, and for others it is collected without judgment.” C. H. Toy says that the text is corrupt (Proverbs [ICC], 277). Nevertheless, the MT makes sense: The ground could produce enough food for people if there were no injustice in the land. Poverty is unnecessary as long as there is justice and not injustice.

[15:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “joy to the man” or “the man has joy.”

[15:23]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[28:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “wide of soul.” This is an idiom meaning “a greedy person.” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally, “soul”) has here its more basic meaning of appetites (a person is a soul, a bundle of appetites; BDB 660 s.v. 5.a). It would mean “wide of appetite” (רְהַב־נֶפֶשׁ), thus “greedy.”

[28:25]  ¹⁰ sn Greed “stirs up” the strife. This individual’s attitude and actions stir up dissension because people do not long tolerate him.

[28:25]  ¹¹ tn The construction uses the participle בּוֹטֵחַ (boteakh) followed by עַל־יְהוָה (’al-yÿhvah), which gives the sense of “relying confidently on the Lord.” This is the antithesis of the greedy person who pushes to get what he desires.

[28:25]  ¹² tn The verb דָּשֵׁן (dashen) means “to be fat,” and in the Piel/Pual stems “to make fat/to be made fat” (cf. KJV, ASV). The idea of being “fat” was symbolic of health and prosperity – the one who trusts in the Lord will be abundantly prosperous and fully gratified (cf. NRSV “will be enriched”).