18:9 The one who 1 is slack 2 in his work
is a brother 3 to one who destroys. 4
1 tn Heb “Also, the one who.” Many commentators and a number of English versions omit the word “also.”
2 tn The form מִתְרַפֶּה (mitrappeh) is the Hitpael participle, “showing oneself slack.” The verb means “to sink; to relax,” and in the causative stem “to let drop” the hands. This is the lazy person who does not even try to work.
3 sn These two troubling types, the slacker and the destroyer, are closely related.
4 tn Heb “possessor of destruction.” This idiom means “destroyer” (so ASV); KJV “a great waster”; NRSV “a vandal.”