Amsal 6:32

6:32 A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, ¹ 

whoever does it destroys his own life. ² 

Amsal 13:2

13:2 From the fruit of his speech ³  a person eats good things, ⁴ 

but the faithless ⁵  desire ⁶  the fruit of violence. ⁷ 

Amsal 15:32

15:32 The one who refuses correction despises himself, ⁸ 

but whoever hears ⁹  reproof acquires understanding. ¹⁰ 

Amsal 24:14

24:14 Likewise, know ¹¹  that wisdom is sweet ¹²  to your soul;

if you find it, ¹³  you will have a future, ¹⁴ 

and your hope will not be cut off.

Amsal 29:10

29:10 Bloodthirsty people ¹⁵  hate someone with integrity; ¹⁶ 

as for the upright, they seek his life. ¹⁷ 

[6:32]  ¹ tn Heb “heart.” The term “heart” is used as a metonymy of association for discernment, wisdom, good sense. Cf. NAB “is a fool”; NIV “lacks judgment”; NCV, NRSV “has no sense.”

[6:32]  ² tn Heb “soul.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) functions as a metonymy of association for “life” (BDB 659 s.v. 3.c).

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “lips” (so NIV); KJV “mouth.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for what the lips produce: speech.

[13:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “he eats [what is] good.”

[13:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the desire of the faithless.” The noun “faithless” is a subjective genitive: “the faithless desire….”

[13:2]  ⁶ tn The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally “soul”) has a broad range of meanings, and here denotes “appetite” (e.g., Ps 17:9; Prov 23:3; Eccl 2:24; Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5; BDB 660 s.v. 5.c) or (2) “desire” (e.g., Deut 12:20; Prov 13:4; 19:8; 21:10; BDB 660 s.v. 6.a).

[13:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “violence.” The phrase “the fruit of” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the parallelism. The term “violence” is probably a metonymy of cause: “violence” represents what violence gains – ill-gotten gains resulting from violent crime. The wicked desire what does not belong to them.

[13:2]  tc The LXX reads “the souls of the wicked perish untimely.” The MT makes sense as it stands.

[15:32]  ⁸ sn To “despise oneself” means to reject oneself as if there was little value. The one who ignores discipline is not interested in improving himself.

[15:32]  ⁹ tn Or “heeds” (so NAB, NIV); NASB “listens to.”

[15:32]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads קוֹנֶה לֵּב (qoneh lev), the participle of קָנָה (qanah, “to acquire; to possess”) with its object, “heart.” The word “heart” is frequently a metonymy of subject, meaning all the capacities of the human spirit and/or mind. Here it refers to the ability to make judgments or discernment.

[24:14]  ¹¹ tn D. W. Thomas argues for a meaning of “seek” in place of “know” (“Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” JTS 38 [1937]: 400-403).

[24:14]  ¹² tn The phrase “is sweet” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.

[24:14]  ¹³ tn The term “it” is supplied in the translation.

[24:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “there will be an end.” The word is אַחֲרִית (’akhrit, “after-part, end”). BDB 31 s.v. b says in a passage like this it means “a future,” i.e., a happy close of life, sometimes suggesting the idea of posterity promised to the righteous, often parallel to “hope.”

[29:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “men of bloods.” The Hebrew word for “blood” is written in the plural to reflect the shedding of blood. So the expression “men of bloods” means people who shed blood – murderers, bloodthirsty men, or those who would not hesitate to commit murder in order to get what they want.

[29:10]  ¹⁶ sn The Hebrew word describes the “blameless” or “innocent” who maintain integrity. The bloodthirsty despise people who insist on decency and integrity.

[29:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the upright seek his life.” There are two ways this second line can be taken. (1) One can see it as a continuation of the first line, meaning that the bloodthirsty men also “seek the life of the upright” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The difficulty is that the suffix is singular but the apparent referent is plural. (2) One can take it is as a contrast: “but as for the upright, they seek his life” – a fairly straightforward rendering (cf. ASV). The difficulty here is that “seeking a life” is normally a hostile act, but it would here be positive: “seeking” a life to preserve it. The verse would then say that the bloodthirsty hate the innocent, but the righteous protect them (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 637; cf. NAB, NASB, TEV).