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. ¹ 

Amsal 29:11

29:11 A fool lets fly with all his temper, ² 

but a wise person keeps it back. ³ 

Amsal 29:1

29:1 The one who stiffens his neck ⁴  after numerous rebukes ⁵ 

will suddenly be destroyed ⁶  without remedy. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 20:30-34

20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan ⁸  and said to him, “You stupid traitor! ⁹  Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse? 20:31 For as long as ¹⁰  this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men ¹¹  and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” ¹² 

20:32 Jonathan responded to his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” 20:33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan ¹³  in order to strike him down. So Jonathan was convinced ¹⁴  that his father had decided to kill David. 20:34 Jonathan got up from the table enraged. He did not eat any food on that second day of the new moon, for he was upset that his father had humiliated David. ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 20:1

Jonathan Seeks to Protect David

20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, ¹⁶  “What have I done? What is my offense? ¹⁷  How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”

Kisah Para Rasul 19:1-2

Disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus

19:1 While ¹⁸  Apollos was in Corinth, ¹⁹  Paul went through the inland ²⁰  regions ²¹  and came to Ephesus. ²²  He ²³  found some disciples there ²⁴  19:2 and said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” ²⁵  They replied, ²⁶  “No, we have not even ²⁷  heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

[25:28]  ¹ 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.

[29:11]  ² tn Heb “his spirit.” It has been commonly interpreted to mean “his anger” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), but it probably means more than that. The fool gives full expression to his “soul,” whether it is anger or bitterness or frustration or any other emotions. He has no self-control.

[29:11]  ³ tn The line is difficult. The MT has בְּאחוֹר יְשַׁבְּחֶנָּה (bÿ’khor yÿshabbÿkhennah), which literally means “steals it back.” The verb שָׁבַח (shavakh) means “to soothe; to still,” as with a storm, or here with the temper. But because אָחוֹר (’akhor) does not fit very well with this verb, most commentators offer some suggested change. C. H. Toy reads “anger” instead of “back” and translates the verb “restrain” following the LXX, which has “self-control” (Proverbs [ICC], 510). The idea of self-control is what is intended, but the changes suggested are not entirely warranted. A number of English versions have “holds it back” (e.g., NASB, NRSV, NLT), and this fits the Hebrew as well as any.

[29:1]  ⁴ tn The idiom “to harden the neck” (מַקְשֶׁה־עֹרֶף, maqsheh-’oref) is the idea of resisting the rebukes and persisting in obstinacy (e.g., Exod 32:9). The opposite of a “stiff neck” would be the bending back, i.e., submission.

[29:1]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew construction is אִישׁ תּוֹכָחוֹת (’ish tokhakhot, “a man of rebukes”), meaning “a man who has (or receives) many rebukes.” This describes a person who is deserving of punishment and who has been given many warnings. The text says, then, “a man of rebukes hardening himself.”

[29:1]  ⁶ sn The stubborn person refuses to listen; he will suddenly be destroyed when the calamity strikes (e.g., Prov 6:15; 13:18; 15:10).

[29:1]  ⁷ tn Or “healing” (NRSV).

[20:30]  ⁸ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss include the words “his son” here.

[20:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.

[20:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the days that.”

[20:31]  ¹¹ tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:31]  ¹² tn Heb “a son of death.”

[20:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “knew.”

[20:34]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for he was upset concerning David for his father had humiliated him.” The referent of the pronoun “him” is not entirely clear, but the phrase “concerning David” suggests that it refers to David, rather than Jonathan.

[20:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”

[20:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “What is my guilt?”

[19:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “It happened that while.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[19:1]  ¹⁹ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[19:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “interior.”

[19:1]  ²¹ tn BDAG 92 s.v. ἀνωτερικός has “upper τὰ ἀ. μέρη the upper (i.e. inland) country, the interior Ac 19:1.”

[19:1]  ²² map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[19:1]  ²³ tn Grk “and found.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[19:1]  ²⁴ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[19:2]  ²⁵ tn The participle πιστεύσαντες (pisteusante") is taken temporally.

[19:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “they [said] to him” (the word “said” is implied in the Greek text).

[19:2]  ²⁷ tn This use of ἀλλά (alla) is ascensive and involves an ellipsis (BDAG 45 s.v. ἀλλά 3): “No, [not only did we not receive the Spirit,] but also we have not heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” However, this is lengthy and somewhat awkward in English, and the ascensive meaning can be much more easily represented by including the word “even” after the negation. Apparently these disciples were unaware of the provision of the Spirit that is represented in baptism. The language sounds like they did not know about a Holy Spirit, but this seems to be only linguistic shorthand for not knowing about the Spirit’s presence (Luke 3:15-18). The situation is parallel to that of Apollos. Apollos and these disciples represent those who “complete” their transition to messianic faith as Jews.