¹ tn Heb “man.”

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn BDB 814 s.v. פָּלַס 2 suggests that the participle מְפַּלֵּס (mÿpalles) means “to make level [or, straight].” As one’s ways are in front of the eyes of the Lord, they become straight or right. It could be translated “weighs” since it is a denominative from the noun for “balance, scale”; the Lord weighs or examines the actions.

⁴ tn Heb “all his”; the referent (the person mentioned in the first half of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn The noun “instruction” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation.

⁶ sn The parallelism shows what Proverbs will repeatedly stress, that the wise person is the righteous person.

⁷ tn The Hiphil verb normally means “to cause to know, make known”; but here the context suggests “to teach” (so many English versions).

⁸ tn The term “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of smoothness and clarity.

⁹ tn Heb “a wise man…a foolish man.”

¹⁰ tn The verb שָׁפַט (shafat) means “to judge.” In the Niphal stem it could be passive, but is more frequently reciprocal: “to enter into controversy” or “to go to court.” The word is usually used in connection with a lawsuit (so many recent English versions), but can also refer to an argument (e.g., 1 Sam 12:7; Isa 43:26); cf. NAB “disputes”; NASB “has a controversy.”

¹¹ tn The noun נָחַת (nakhat) is a derivative of נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and so means “quietness” or “rest,” i.e., “peace.”

sn The proverb is saying that there will be no possibility of settling the matter in a calm way, no matter what mood the fool is in (e.g., Prov 26:4). R. N. Whybray says one can only cut the losses and have no further dealings with the fool (Proverbs [CBC], 168).

¹² tn Heb “and he is angry and he laughs.” The construction uses the conjunctive vav to express alternate actions: “whether…or.”