17:8 A bribe works like 1 a charm 2 for the one who offers it; 3
in whatever he does 4 he succeeds. 5
31:30 Charm is deceitful 6 and beauty is fleeting, 7
but a woman who fears the Lord 8 will be praised.
1 tn The phrase “works like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.
2 tn Heb “a stone of favors”; NAB, NRSV “a magic stone.” The term שֹׁחַד (shokhad, “bribe”) could be simply translated as “a gift”; but the second half of the verse says that the one who offers it is successful. At best it could be a gift that opens doors; at worst it is a bribe. The word שֹׁחַד is never used of a disinterested gift, so there is always something of the bribe in it (e.g., Ps 15:5; Isa 1:23). Here it is “a stone that brings favor,” the genitive being the effect or the result of the gift. In other words, it has magical properties and “works like a charm.”
3 tn Heb “in the eyes of its owner.”
4 tn Heb “in all that he turns”; NASB, NIV “wherever he turns.”
5 sn As C. H. Toy points out, the sage is merely affirming a point without making a comment – those who use bribery meet with widespread success (Proverbs [ICC], 341). This does not amount to an endorsement of bribery.
6 tn The first word of the twenty-first line begins with שׁ (shin), the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The graphic distinction between שׁ (shin) and שׂ (sin) had not been made at the time the book of Proverbs was written; that graphic distinction was introduced by the Masoretes, ca.
7 sn The verse shows that “charm” and “beauty” do not endure as do those qualities that the fear of the
8 sn This chapter describes the wise woman as fearing the