8:19 My fruit is better than the purest gold, 1
and what I produce 2 is better than choice silver.
25:14 Like cloudy skies and wind that produce no rain, 3
so is the one who boasts 4 of a gift not given. 5
1 tn The two synonyms, “than gold, than fine gold” probably form a hendiadys here to express “the very finest gold.”
2 sn The language of the text with “fruit” and “ingathering” is the language of the harvest – what the crops yield. So the figure is hypocatastasis, comparing what wisdom produces to such crops.
3 sn The emblem now is one of clouds and winds that would be expected to produce rain; they gain attention and raise people’s expectations but prove to be disappointing when no rain is forthcoming, and hence could be thought of as deceitful.
4 tn The form מִתְהַלֵּל (mithallel) is the Hitpael participle of the well-known word for “praise”; but in this stem it means “to praise oneself” or “to boast.” The description of “windbag” seems appropriate in this context.
5 tn Heb “a gift of falsehood.” This would mean that the individual brags about giving a gift, when there is no gift.