6:1 My child, 2 if you have made a pledge 3 for your neighbor,
and 4 have become a guarantor 5 for a stranger, 6
13:11 Wealth gained quickly 7 will dwindle away, 8
but the one who gathers it little by little 9 will become rich. 10
19:20 Listen to advice 11 and receive discipline,
that 12 you may become wise 13 by the end of your life. 14
20:13 Do not love sleep, 15 lest you become impoverished;
open your eyes so that 16 you might be satisfied with food. 17
21:18 The wicked become 18 a ransom 19 for the righteous,
and the faithless 20 are taken 21 in the place of the upright.
1 sn The chapter advises release from foolish indebtedness (1-5), admonishes avoiding laziness (6-11), warns of the danger of poverty (9-11) and deviousness (12-15), lists conduct that the
2 tn Heb “my son” (likewise in vv. 3, 20).
3 sn It was fairly common for people to put up some kind of financial security for someone else, that is, to underwrite another’s debts. But the pledge in view here was foolish because the debtor was a neighbor who was not well known (זָר, zar), perhaps a misfit in the community. The one who pledged security for this one was simply gullible.
4 tn The conjunction “and” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.
5 tn Heb “struck your hands”; NIV “have struck hands in pledge”; NASB “have given a pledge.” The guarantee of a pledge was signaled by a handshake (e.g., 11:15; 17:18; 22:26).
6 tn Heb “stranger.” The term זוּר (zur, “stranger”) probably refers to a neighbor who was not well-known. Alternatively, it could describe a person who is living outside the norms of convention, a moral misfit in the community. In any case, this “stranger” is a high risk in any financial arrangement.
7 tc The MT reads מֵהֵבֶל (mehevel, “from vanity”). The Greek and Latin versions (followed by RSV) reflect מְבֹהָל (mÿvohal, “in haste”) which exhibits metathesis. MT is the more difficult reading and therefore preferred. The alternate reading fits the parallelism better, but is therefore a less difficult reading.
tn Heb “wealth from vanity” (cf. KJV, ASV). The term הֶבֶל (hevel) literally means “vapor” and figuratively refers to that which is unsubstantial, fleeting, or amount to nothing (BDB 210 s.v.). Used in antithesis with the expression “little by little,” it means either “without working for it” or “quickly.” Some English versions assume dishonest gain (cf. NASB, NIV, CEV).
8 tn Heb “will become small.” The verb מָעָט (ma’at) means “to become small; to become diminished; to become few.” Money gained without work will diminish quickly, because it was come by too easily. The verb forms a precise contrast with רָבָה (ravah), “to become much; to become many,” but in the Hiphil, “to multiply; to make much many; to cause increase.”
9 tn Heb “by hand”; cf. KJV, ASV, NASB “by labor.”
10 tn Heb “will increase.”
11 sn The advice refers in all probability to the teachings of the sages that will make one wise.
12 tn The proverb is one continuous thought, but the second half of the verse provides the purpose for the imperatives of the first half.
13 tn The imperfect tense has the nuance of a final imperfect in a purpose clause, and so is translated “that you may become wise” (cf. NAB, NRSV).
14 tn Heb “become wise in your latter end” (cf. KJV, ASV) which could obviously be misunderstood.
15 sn The proverb uses antithetical parallelism to teach that diligence leads to prosperity. It contrasts loving sleep with opening the eyes, and poverty with satisfaction. Just as “sleep” can be used for slothfulness or laziness, so opening the eyes can represent vigorous, active conduct. The idioms have caught on in modern usage as well – things like “open your eyes” or “asleep on the job.”
16 tn The second line uses two imperatives in a sequence (without the vav [ו]): “open your eyes” and then (or, in order that) you will “be satisfied.”
17 tn Heb “bread” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV), although the term often serves in a generic sense for food in general.
18 tn The term “become” is supplied in the translation.
19 sn The Hebrew word translated “ransom” (כֹּפֶר, kofer) normally refers to the price paid to free a prisoner. R. N. Whybray (Proverbs [CBC], 121) gives options for the meaning of the verse: (1) If it means that the wicked obtain good things that should go to the righteous, it is then a despairing plea for justice (which would be unusual in the book of Proverbs); but if (2) it is taken to mean that the wicked suffers the evil he has prepared for the righteous, then it harmonizes with Proverbs elsewhere (e.g., 11:8). The ideal this proverb presents – and the future reality – is that in calamity the righteous escape and the wicked suffer in their place (e.g., Haman in the book of Esther).
20 tn Or “treacherous” (so ASV, NASB, NLT); NIV “the unfaithful.”
21 tn The phrase “are taken” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for smoothness.