Amsal 6:34

6:34 for jealousy kindles ¹  a husband’s ²  rage,

and he will not show mercy ³  when he takes revenge.

Amsal 7:27

7:27 Her house is the way to the grave, ⁴ 

going down ⁵  to the chambers ⁶  of death.

Amsal 10:29

10:29 The way of the Lord ⁷  is like ⁸  a stronghold for the upright, ⁹ 

but it is destruction ¹⁰  to evildoers. ¹¹ 

Amsal 11:23

11:23 What the righteous desire ¹²  leads ¹³  only to good,

but what the wicked hope for ¹⁴  leads ¹⁵  to wrath.

Amsal 12:6

12:6 The words of the wicked lie in wait ¹⁶  to shed innocent blood, ¹⁷ 

but the words ¹⁸  of the upright will deliver them.

Amsal 14:24

14:24 The crown of the wise is their riches, ¹⁹ 

but the folly ²⁰  of fools is folly.

Amsal 16:18

16:18 Pride ²¹  goes ²²  before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall. ²³ 

Amsal 21:4

21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart –

the agricultural product ²⁴  of the wicked is sin.

Amsal 22:4

22:4 The reward ²⁵  for humility ²⁶  and fearing the Lord ²⁷ 

is riches and honor and life.

Amsal 24:9

24:9 A foolish scheme ²⁸  is sin,

and the scorner is an abomination to people. ²⁹ 

Amsal 25:11-12

25:11 Like apples of gold in settings of silver, ³⁰ 

so is a word skillfully spoken. ³¹ 

25:12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, ³² 

so is a wise reprover to the ear of the one who listens. ³³ 

Amsal 25:25

25:25 Like cold water to a weary person, ³⁴ 

so is good news from a distant land. ³⁵ 

Amsal 25:28

25:28 Like a city that is broken down and without a wall,

so is a person who cannot control his temper. ³⁶ 

Amsal 26:10

26:10 Like an archer who wounds at random, ³⁷ 

so is the one who hires ³⁸  a fool or hires any passer-by.

Amsal 28:15

28:15 Like ³⁹  a roaring lion or a roving bear, ⁴⁰ 

so is a wicked ruler over a poor people. ⁴¹ 

[6:34]  ¹ tn The word “kindles” was supplied in the translation; both “rage” and “jealousy” have meanings connected to heat.

[6:34]  ² tn Heb “a man’s.”

[6:34]  ³ tn The verb חָמַל (khamal) means “to show mercy; to show compassion; to show pity,” usually with the outcome of sparing or delivering someone. The idea here is that the husband will not spare the guilty man any of the punishment (cf. NRSV “he shows no restraint”).

[7:27]  ⁴ tn The noun “Sheol” in parallelism to “the chambers of death” probably means the grave. The noun is a genitive of location, indicating the goal of the road(s). Her house is not the grave; it is, however, the sure way to it.

[7:27]  sn Her house is the way to the grave. The young man’s life is not destroyed in one instant; it is taken from him gradually as he enters into a course of life that will leave him as another victim of the wages of sin. The point of the warning is to prevent such a course from starting. Sin can certainly be forgiven, but the more involvement in this matter the greater the alienation from the healthy community.

[7:27]  ⁵ tn The Qal active participle modifies “ways” to Sheol. The “road,” as it were, descends to the place of death.

[7:27]  ⁶ tn “Chambers” is a hypocatastasis, comparing the place of death or the grave with a bedroom in the house. It plays on the subtlety of the temptation. Cf. NLT “Her bedroom is the den of death.”

[10:29]  ⁷ sn The “way of the Lord” is an idiom for God’s providential administration of life; it is what the Lord does (“way” being a hypocatastasis).

[10:29]  ⁸ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[10:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “for the one with integrity” (לַתֹּם, latom).

[10:29]  ¹⁰ tn Or “ruin” (so NIV).

[10:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “those who practice iniquity.”

[11:23]  ¹² tn Heb “the desire of the righteous.” The noun תַּאֲוַת (ta’avat) functions as an objective genitive: “what the righteous desire.”

[11:23]  ¹³ tn The phrase “leads to” does not appear in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation. The desire of the righteous (in itself good) ends in good things, whereas the hope of the wicked ends in wrath, i.e., divine judgment on them. Another interpretation is that the righteous desire is to do good things, but the wicked hope to produce wrath (cf. CEV “troublemakers hope to stir up trouble”).

[11:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the hope of the wicked.” The noun תִּקְוַת (tiqvat) “expectation” functions as an objective genitive: “what the wicked hope for.”

[11:23]  ¹⁵ tn The term “leads” does not appear in the Hebrew text in this line but is implied by the parallelism. It is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[12:6]  ¹⁶ tn The infinitive construct אֱרָב (’erav, “to lie in wait”) expresses the purpose of their conversations. The idea of “lying in wait for blood” is an implied comparison (hypocatastasis): Their words are like an ambush intended to destroy (cf. NAB, NRSV “are a deadly ambush”). The words of the wicked are here personified.

[12:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for blood.” The term “blood” is a metonymy of effect, the cause being the person that they will attack and whose blood they will shed. After the construct “blood” is also an objective genitive.

[12:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) is a metonymy of cause, signifying what the righteous say. The righteous can make a skillful defense against false accusations that are intended to destroy. The righteous, who have gained wisdom, can escape the traps set by the words of the wicked.

[14:24]  ¹⁹ sn C. H. Toy suggests that this line probably means that wealth is an ornament to those who use it well (Proverbs [ICC], 269). J. H. Greenstone suggests that it means that the wisdom of the wise, which is their crown of glory, constitutes their wealth (Proverbs, 155).

[14:24]  ²⁰ tc The MT reads אִוֶלֶת (’ivelet, “folly”). The editors of BHS propose emending the text to וְלִוְיַת (vÿlivyat, “but the wealth”), as suggested by the LXX. See M. Rotenberg, “The Meaning of אִוֶּלֶת in Proverbs,” LesŒ 25 (1960-1961): 201. A similar emendation is followed by NAB (“the diadem”) and NRSV (“the garland”).

[16:18]  ²¹ sn The two lines of this proverb are synonymous parallelism, and so there are parasynonyms. “Pride” is paired with “haughty spirit” (“spirit” being a genitive of specification); and “destruction” is matched with “a tottering, falling.”

[16:18]  ²² tn Heb “[is] before destruction.”

[16:18]  ²³ sn Many proverbs have been written in a similar way to warn against the inevitable disintegration and downfall of pride. W. McKane records an Arabic proverb: “The nose is in the heavens, the seat is in the mire” (Proverbs [OTL], 490).

[21:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the tillage [נִר, nir] of the wicked is sin” (so NAB). The subject picks up the subjects of the first half of the verse, indicating they are equal – the tillage consists of the arrogance and pride. The word “tillage” is figurative, of course, signifying that the agricultural product (the point of the comparison) of the wicked is sin. The relationship between the ideas is then problematic. Are pride and arrogance what the wicked produce? Some (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) have followed the LXX and Tg. Prov 21:4 to read “lamp” instead (נֵר, ner), but that does not solve the difficulty of the relationship between the expressions. It does, however, say that the life ( = lamp), which is arrogance and pride, is sin.

[22:4]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew term עֵקֶב (’eqev, “reward”) is related to the term meaning “heel”; it refers to the consequences or the reward that follows (akin to the English expression “on the heels of”).

[22:4]  ²⁶ tn “Humility” is used here in the religious sense of “piety”; it is appropriately joined with “the fear of the Lord.” Some commentators, however, make “the fear of the Lord” the first in the series of rewards for humility, but that arrangement is less likely here.

[22:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord.” This is an objective genitive; the Lord is the object of the fear.

[24:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the scheme of folly” (NIV similar). The genitive functions as an attributive genitive, meaning “foolish scheme.” But it could also be interpreted as a genitive of source, the scheme that comes from folly (or from the fool if “folly” were metonymical).

[24:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to a man”; cf. CEV “Everyone hates senseless fools.”

[24:9]  sn This describes evil people who flout all morality and goodness; sooner or later the public will have had enough of them.

[25:11]  ³⁰ sn The verse uses emblematic parallelism, stating the simile in the first part and the point in the second. The meaning of the simile is not entirely clear, but it does speak of beauty, value, and artistry. The “apples of gold” (possibly citrons, quinces, oranges, or apricots) may refer to carvings of fruit in gold on columns.

[25:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “on its wheels.” This expression means “aptly, fittingly.” The point is obviously about the immense value and memorable beauty of words used skillfully (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 148). Noting the meaning of the term and the dual form of the word, W. McKane suggests that the expression is metaphorical for the balancing halves of a Hebrew parallel wisdom saying: “The stichos is a wheel, and the sentence consisting of two wheels is a ‘well-turned’ expression” (Proverbs [OTL], 584). The line then would be describing a balanced, well-turned saying, a proverb; it is skillfully constructed, beautifully written, and of lasting value.

[25:12]  ³² sn This saying is another example of emblematic parallelism; the first half is the simile, and the second half makes the point from it: A wise rebuke that is properly received is of lasting value. The rebuke in the ear of an obedient student is like ornaments of fine jewelry.

[25:12]  ³³ tn The “ear of the listener” refers to the obedient disciple, the one who complies with the reproof he hears. Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB “an obedient ear.”

[25:25]  ³⁴ tn Heb “a weary [or, faint] soul” (so NASB, NIV); KJV, ASV, NRSV “a thirsty soul,” but “soul” here refers to the whole person.

[25:25]  ³⁵ sn The difficulty of getting news of any kind from a distant land made its reception all the more delightful when it was good (e.g., Gen 45:27; Prov 15:30).

[25:28]  ³⁶ tn Heb “whose spirit lacks restraint” (ASV similar). A person whose spirit (רוּחַ, ruakh) “lacks restraint” is one who is given to outbursts of passion, who lacks self-control (cf. NIV, NRSV, CEV, NLT). This person has no natural defenses but reveals his true nature all the time. The proverb is stating that without self-control a person is vulnerable, like a city without defenses.

[26:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “who wounds everyone” (so NASB). A similar rendering is given by ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, and NLT; it is the only one that makes sense out of a verse that most commentators consider hopelessly corrupt. That is not to say it is the correct rendering, only that it makes sense as a required negative statement in a proverb. The first line has רַב מְחוֹלֵל־כֹּל (rav mÿkholel-col). The first word, רַב (rav), can mean “archer,” “ master,” or “much.” The verb מְחוֹלֵל (mÿkholel) can mean “to wound” or “to bring forth.” The possibilities are: “a master performs [or, produces] all,” “a master injures all,” “an archer wounds all,” or “much produces all.” The line probably should be stating something negative, so the idea of an archer injuring or wounding people [at random] is preferable. An undisciplined hireling will have the same effect as an archer shooting at anything and everything (cf. NLT “an archer who shoots recklessly”).

[26:10]  ³⁸ tn The participle שֹׂכֵר (shokher) is rendered here according to its normal meaning “hires” or “pays wages to.” Other suggestions include “one who rewards a fool” (derived from the idea of wages) and “one who stops a fool” (from a similar word).

[28:15]  ³⁹ tn The term “like” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[28:15]  ⁴⁰ sn The comparison uses animals that are powerful, terrifying, insensitive, and in search of prey. Because political tyrants are like this, animal imagery of this sort is also used in Dan 7:1-8 for the series of ruthless world powers.

[28:15]  ⁴¹ sn A poor nation under the control of political tyrants who are dangerous and destructive is helpless. The people of that nation will crumble under them because they cannot meet their demands and are of no use to them.