6:34 for jealousy kindles 1 a husband’s 2 rage,
and he will not show mercy 3 when he takes revenge.
19:22 What is desirable 4 for a person is to show loyal love, 5
and a poor person is better than a liar. 6
22:21 to show you true and reliable words, 7
so that you may give accurate answers 8 to those who sent you?
1 tn The word “kindles” was supplied in the translation; both “rage” and “jealousy” have meanings connected to heat.
2 tn Heb “a man’s.”
3 tn The verb חָמַל (khamal) means “to show mercy; to show compassion; to show pity,” usually with the outcome of sparing or delivering someone. The idea here is that the husband will not spare the guilty man any of the punishment (cf. NRSV “he shows no restraint”).
4 tn Heb “the desire of a man” (so KJV). The noun in construct is תַּאֲוַת (ta’avat), “desire [of].” Here it refers to “the desire of a man [= person].” Two problems surface here, the connotation of the word and the kind of genitive. “Desire” can also be translated “lust,” and so J. H. Greenstone has “The lust of a man is his shame” (Proverbs, 208). But the sentence is more likely positive in view of the more common uses of the words. “Man” could be a genitive of possession or subjective genitive – the man desires loyal love. It could also be an objective genitive, meaning “what is desired for a man.” The first would be the more natural in the proverb, which is showing that loyal love is better than wealth.
5 tn Heb “[is] his loyal love”; NIV “unfailing love”; NRSV “loyalty.”
6 sn The second half of the proverb presents the logical inference: The liar would be without “loyal love” entirely, and so poverty would be better than this. A poor person who wishes to do better is preferable to a person who makes promises and does not keep them.
7 tn Heb “to cause you to know the truth of words of truth” (NASB similar).
8 tn Heb “to return true words”; NAB “a dependable report”; NIV “sound answers.”