Discovery BoxProverbs 3:27 
Context3:27 Do not withhold good from those who need it, 1
when 2 you 3 have the ability 4 to help. 5
Proverbs 7:16
Context7:16 I have spread my bed with elegant coverings, 6
with richly colored fabric 7 from Egypt.
Proverbs 9:5
Context9:5 “Come, eat 8 some of my food,
and drink some of the wine I have mixed. 9
Proverbs 20:9
Context20:9 Who can say, 10 “I have kept my heart clean; 11
I am pure 12 from my sin”?
Proverbs 22:20
Context22:20 Have I not written thirty sayings 13 for you,
sayings 14 of counsel and knowledge,
Proverbs 23:25
Context23:25 May your father and your mother have joy;
may she who bore you rejoice. 15
Proverbs 30:27
Context30:27 locusts have no king,
but they all go forward by ranks; 16
1 tn The MT has “from its possessors” and the LXX simply has “from the poor.” C. H. Toy (Proverbs [ICC], 77) suggests emending the text to read “neighbors” (changing בְּעָלָיו [be’alav] to רֵעֶיךָ, re’ekha) but that is gratuitous. The idea can be explained as being those who need to possess it, or as BDB 127 s.v. בַּעַל has it with an objective genitive, “the owner of it” = the one to whom it is due.
2 tn The infinitive construct with preposition ב (bet) introduces a temporal clause: “when….”
3 tc The form יָדֶיךָ (yadekha) is a Kethib/Qere reading. The Kethib is the dual יָדֶיךָ (“your hands”) and the Qere is the singular יָדְךָ (yadÿkha, “your hand”). Normally the Qere is preferred because it represents an alternate textual tradition that the Masoretes viewed as superior to the received text.
tn Heb “your hand.” The term יָדְךָ (“your hand”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= your hand) for the whole person (= you).
4 tn Heb “it is to the power of your hand.” This expression is idiomatic for “it is in your power” or “you have the ability” (Gen 31:29; Deut 28:23; Neh 5:5; Mic 2:1). The noun אֵל (’el) means “power” (BDB 43 s.v. 7), and יָד (yad, “hand”) is used figuratively to denote “ability” (BDB 390 s.v. 2). Several translations render this as “when it is in your power to do it” (KJV, RSV, NRSV, NASB) or “when it is in your power to act” (NIV). W. McKane suggests, “when it is in your power to confer it” (Proverbs [OTL], 215).
5 tn Heb “to do [it]” (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV).
6 tn Heb “with spreads.” The sentence begins with the cognate accusative: “with spreads I have spread my bed.” The construction enhances the idea – she has covered her bed.
7 tn The feminine noun means “dark-hued stuffs” (BDB 310 s.v. חֲטֻבוֹת). The form is a passive participle from a supposed root II חָטַב (khatav), which in Arabic means to be of a turbid, dusky color mixed with yellowish red. Its Aramaic cognate means “variegated”; cf. NAB “with brocaded cloths of Egyptian linen.” BDB’s translation of this colon is unsatifactory: “with dark hued stuffs of yarn from Egypt.”
8 tn The construction features a cognate accusative (verb and noun from same root). The preposition בּ (bet) has the partitive use “some” (GKC 380 §119.m).
9 tn The final verb actually stands in a relative clause although the relative pronoun is not present; it modifies “wine.”
sn The expressions “eat” and “drink” carry the implied comparison forward; they mean that the simple are to appropriate the teachings of wisdom.
10 sn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is affirming that no one can say this because no one is pure and free of sin.
11 tn The verb form זִכִּיתִי (zikkiti) is the Piel perfect of זָכָה (zakhah, “to be clear; to be clean; to be pure”). The verb has the idea of “be clear, justified, acquitted.” In this stem it is causative: “I have made my heart clean” (so NRSV) or “kept my heart pure” (so NIV). This would be claiming that all decisions and motives were faultless.
12 sn The Hebrew verb translated “I am pure” (טָהֵר, taher) is a Levitical term. To claim this purity would be to claim that moral and cultic perfection had been attained and therefore one was acceptable to God in the present condition. Of course, no one can claim this; even if one thought it true, it is impossible to know all that is in the heart as God knows it.
13 tn Older English versions and a few more recent ones render this phrase as either “excellent things” following the Qere (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NKJV), “officers,” or “heretofore” [day before yesterday], following the Kethib. However (as in most recent English versions) the Qere should be rendered “thirty,” referring to the number in the collection (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
14 tn The term “sayings” does not appear in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
15 tn The form תָגֵל (tagel) is clearly a short form and therefore a jussive (“may she…rejoice”); if this second verb is a jussive, then the parallel יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) should be a jussive also (“may your father and your mother have joy”).
16 sn The Hebrew term means “divided”; they go forward in orderly divisions, or ranks (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 535). Joel 1:4 describes their order and uses it as a picture of a coming invasion (e.g., Joel 2:7, 8). Therefore the wisdom of the locust is in their order and cooperation.
