Mazmur 17:5

17:5 I carefully obey your commands; ¹ 

I do not deviate from them. ² 

Mazmur 119:116-117

119:116 Sustain me as you promised, ³  so that I will live. ⁴ 

Do not disappoint me! ⁵ 

119:117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.

Then I will focus ⁶  on your statutes continually.

Amsal 16:18-19

16:18 Pride ⁷  goes ⁸  before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall. ⁹ 

16:19 It is better to be lowly in spirit ¹⁰  with the afflicted

than to share the spoils ¹¹  with the proud.

Amsal 20:6

20:6 Many people profess their loyalty, ¹² 

but a faithful person ¹³  – who can find? ¹⁴ 

Amsal 28:25-26

28:25 The greedy person ¹⁵  stirs up dissension, ¹⁶ 

but the one who trusts ¹⁷  in the Lord will prosper. ¹⁸ 

28:26 The one who trusts in his own heart ¹⁹  is a fool,

but the one who walks in wisdom ²⁰  will escape. ²¹ 

Yeremia 17:9

17:9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.

It is incurably bad. ²²  Who can understand it?

Roma 12:10

12:10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another.

Filipi 2:3

2:3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition ²³  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

Filipi 2:1

Christian Unity and Christ’s Humility

2:1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, ²⁴  any affection or mercy, ²⁵ 

Pengkhotbah 5:5-6

5:5 It is better for you not to vow

than to vow and not pay it. ²⁶ 

5:6 Do not let your mouth cause you ²⁷  to sin,

and do not tell the priest, ²⁸  “It was a mistake!” ²⁹ 

Why make God angry at you ³⁰ 

so that he would destroy the work of your hands?”

[17:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

[17:5]  ² tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

[119:116]  ³ tn Heb “according to your word.”

[119:116]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:116]  ⁵ tn Heb “do not make me ashamed of my hope.” After the Hebrew verb בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”) the preposition מִן (min, “from”) often introduces the reason for shame.

[119:117]  ⁶ tn Or “and that I might focus.” The two cohortatives with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the imperative at the beginning of the verse.

[16:18]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “[is] before destruction.”

[16:18]  ⁹ 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).

[16:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “low of spirit”; KJV “of an humble spirit.” This expression describes the person who is humble and submissive before the Lord and therefore inoffensive. It is always necessary to have a humble spirit, whether there is wealth or not.

[16:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “than to divide plunder.” The word “plunder” implies that the wealth taken by the proud was taken violently and wrongfully – spoils are usually taken in warfare. R. N. Whybray translates it with “loot” (Proverbs [CBC], 95). The proud are in rebellion against God, overbearing and oppressive. One should never share the “loot” with them.

[20:6]  ¹² tn Heb “many a man calls/proclaims a man of his loyal love.” The Syriac and Tg. Prov 20:6 render the verb as passive: “many are called kind.” Other suggestions include: “most men meet people who will do them occasional kindnesses” (RSV); “many men profess friendship” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 384); “many men invite only the one who has shown them kindness.” The simplest interpretation in this context is “many proclaim [themselves to be] a kind person (= a loyal friend).” The contrast is between many who claim to be loyal friends and the one who actually proves to be faithful.

[20:6]  ¹³ tn The shift to the expression “a man of faithfulness[es]” in the second line indicates that of all those who claim to show faithful love, it is rare to find one who is truly reliable (as the word אֱמוּנִים [’emunim] indicates clearly); cf. NAB, NRSV “one worthy of trust.”

[20:6]  ¹⁴ sn The point of the rhetorical question is that a truly faithful friend is very difficult to find.

[28:25]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ sn Greed “stirs up” the strife. This individual’s attitude and actions stir up dissension because people do not long tolerate him.

[28:25]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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”).

[28:26]  ¹⁹ sn The idea of “trusting in one’s own heart” is a way of describing one who is self-reliant. C. H. Toy says it means to follow the untrained suggestions of the mind or to rely on one’s own mental resources (Proverbs [ICC], 505). It is arrogant to take no counsel but to rely only on one’s own intelligence.

[28:26]  ²⁰ sn The idiom of “walking in wisdom” means to live life according to the acquired skill and knowledge passed on from the sages. It is the wisdom from above that the book of Proverbs presents, not the undisciplined and uninformed wit and wisdom from below.

[28:26]  ²¹ tn The verb form יִמָּלֵט (yimmalet) is the Niphal imperfect; the form means “to escape.” In this context one would conclude that it means “to escape from trouble,” because the one who lives in this life by wisdom will escape trouble, and the one who trusts in himself will not.

[17:9]  ²² tn Or “incurably deceitful”; Heb “It is incurable.” For the word “deceitful” compare the usage of the verb in Gen 27:36 and a related noun in 2 Kgs 10:19. For the adjective “incurable” compare the usage in Jer 15:18. It is most commonly used with reference to wounds or of pain. In Jer 17:16 it is used metaphorically for a “woeful day” (i.e., day of irreparable devastation).

[17:9]  sn The background for this verse is Deut 29:18-19 (29:17-18 HT) and Deut 30:17.

[2:3]  ²³ tn Grk “not according to selfish ambition.” There is no main verb in this verse; the subjunctive φρονῆτε (fronhte, “be of the same mind”) is implied here as well. Thus, although most translations supply the verb “do” at the beginning of v. 3 (e.g., “do nothing from selfish ambition”), the idea is even stronger than that: “Don’t even think any thoughts motivated by selfish ambition.”

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “spiritual fellowship” if πνεύματος (pneumato") is an attributive genitive; or “fellowship brought about by the Spirit” if πνεύματος is a genitive of source or production.

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and any affection and mercy.” The Greek idea, however, is best expressed by “or” in English.

[5:5]  ²⁶ tn The word “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “your flesh.” The term בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., flesh) for the whole (i.e., whole person), e.g., Gen 2:21; 6:12; Ps 56:4[5]; 65:2[3]; 145:21; Isa 40:5, 6; see HALOT 164 s.v. בָּשָׂר; E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 642.

[5:6]  ²⁸ tc The MT reads הַמַּלְאָךְ (hammal’akh, “messenger”), while the LXX reads τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou, “God”) which reflects an alternate textual tradition of הָאֱלֹהִים (ha’elohim, “God”). The textual problem was caused by orthographic confusion between similarly spelled words. The LXX might have been trying to make sense of a difficult expression. The MT is preferred as the original. All the major translations follow the MT except for Moffatt (“God”).

[5:6]  tn Heb “the messenger.” The term מַלְאָךְ (mal’akh, “messenger”) refers to a temple priest (e.g., Mal 2:7; cf. HALOT 585 s.v. מַלְאָךְ 2.b; BDB 521 s.v. מַלְאָךְ 1.c). The priests recorded what Israelite worshipers vowed (Lev 27:14-15). When an Israelite delayed in fulfilling a vow, a priest would remind him to pay what he had vowed. Although the traditional rabbinic view is that Qoheleth refers to an angelic superintendent over the temple, Rashi suggested that it is a temple-official. Translations reflect both views: “his representative” (NAB), “the temple messenger” (NIV), “the messenger” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, MLB, NJPS), “the angel” (KJV, ASV, Douay) and “the angel of God” (NEB).

[5:6]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew noun שְׁגָגָה (shÿgagah) denotes “error; mistake” and refers to a sin of inadvertence or unintentional sin (e.g., Lev 4:2, 22, 27; 5:18; 22:14; Num 15:24-29; 35:11, 15; Josh 20:3, 9; Eccl 5:5; 10:5); see HALOT 1412 s.v. שְׁגָגָה; BDB 993 s.v. שְׁגָגָה. In this case, it refers to a rash vow thoughtlessly made, which the foolish worshiper claims was a mistake (e.g., Prov 20:25).

[5:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “at your voice.” This is an example of metonymy (i.e., your voice) of association (i.e., you).