Amsal 10:12

10:12 Hatred ¹  stirs up dissension,

but love covers all transgressions. ² 

Amsal 26:21

26:21 Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire,

so is a contentious person ³  to kindle strife. ⁴ 

Amsal 28:25

28:25 The greedy person ⁵  stirs up dissension, ⁶ 

but the one who trusts ⁷  in the Lord will prosper. ⁸ 

Amsal 29:22

29:22 An angry person ⁹  stirs up dissension,

and a wrathful person ¹⁰  is abounding in transgression. ¹¹ 

Amsal 29:2

29:2 When the righteous become numerous, ¹²  the people rejoice;

when the wicked rule, the people groan. ¹³ 

1 Samuel 19:1

Saul Repeatedly Attempts to Take David’s Life

19:1 Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much. ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 20:1

Jonathan Seeks to Protect David

20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, ¹⁵  “What have I done? What is my offense? ¹⁶  How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”

Yakobus 3:14-16

3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such ¹⁷  wisdom does not come ¹⁸  from above but is earthly, natural, ¹⁹  demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.

[10:12]  ¹ sn This contrasts the wicked motivated by hatred (animosity, rejection) with the righteous motivated by love (kind acts, showing favor).

[10:12]  ² sn Love acts like forgiveness. Hatred looks for and exaggerates faults; but love seeks ways to make sins disappear (e.g., 1 Pet 4:8).

[26:21]  ³ sn Heb “a man of contentions”; NCV, NRSV, NLT “a quarrelsome person.” The expression focuses on the person who is contentious by nature. His quarreling is like piling fuel on a fire that would otherwise go out. This kind of person not only starts strife, but keeps it going.

[26:21]  ⁴ tn The Pilpel infinitive construct לְחַרְחַר (lÿkharkhar) from חָרַר (kharar, “to be hot; to be scorched; to burn”) means “to kindle; to cause to flare up.”

[28:25]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn Greed “stirs up” the strife. This individual’s attitude and actions stir up dissension because people do not long tolerate him.

[28:25]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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”).

[29:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “a man of anger.” Here “anger” is an attributive (“an angry man”). This expression describes one given to or characterized by anger, not merely temporarily angry. The same is true of the next description.

[29:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “possessor of wrath.” Here “wrath” is an attributive (cf. ASV “a wrathful man”; KJV “a furious man”).

[29:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “an abundance of transgression.” The phrase means “abounding in transgression” (BDB 913 s.v. רַב 1.d]). Not only does the angry person stir up dissension, but he also frequently causes sin in himself and in others (e.g., 14:17, 29; 15:18; 16:32; 22:24).

[29:2]  ¹² tn The Hebrew form בִּרְבוֹת (birvot) is the Qal infinitive construct of רָבָה (ravah) with a בּ (bet) preposition, forming a temporal clause with a subjective genitive following it. It is paralleled in the second colon by the same construction, showing the antithesis: וּבִמְשֹׁל (uvimshol), “and when the wicked rule.” Some commentators wish to change the first verb to make it parallel this more closely, e.g., רָדָה (radah, “to rule”), but that would be too neat and is completely unsupported. The contrast is between when the righteous increase and when the wicked rule. It is not hard to see how this contrast works out in society.

[29:2]  ¹³ tn The Niphal verb אָנַח (’anakh) means “to sigh; to groan,” usually because of grief or physical and emotional distress. The word is a metonymy of effect; the cause is the oppression and distress due to evil rulers.

[19:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “delighted greatly in David.”

[20:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”

[20:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “What is my guilt?”

[3:15]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “This.”

[3:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

[3:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.