¹ tn The phrase “all too well” does not appear in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for clarity and stylistic reasons.

¹ sn The intent here is to emphasize the large quantity of those who are killed—there will be too many to insure proper mourning rites and proper burial.

² tn Heb “‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as at this day.” However, the literal reading is too elliptical and would lead to confusion.

² tn Heb “filled with food” (so ASV); NASB “satisfied with food”; NAB, NRSV “glutted with food”; CEV “who eats too much”; NLT “who prospers.”

² sn The flatterer is too smooth; his words are intended to gratify. In this proverb some malice is attached to the flattery, for the words prove to be destructive.

² sn A contentious woman is uncontrollable. The wind can gust at any moment; so too the contentious woman can nag or complain without warning.

³ sn The proverb is stating that the sluggard is too lazy to eat; this is essentially the same point made in 19:24 (see the note there).

¹ sn The similes in this emblematic parallelism focus on things that are incapable of performing certain activities—they are either too painful to use or are ineffective.

⁵ tc The LXX offers a moralizing translation not too closely tied to the MT: “he who withholds a gift stirs up violent wrath.”

¹ sn The use of the two rhetorical questions is designed to rebuke the lazy person in a forceful manner. The sluggard is spending too much time sleeping.

² tc Heb “hand” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV). Some mss and versions have it as “trap,” which may very well represent an interpretation too.

¹ tn Several suggest that the verb is not from חָבָא (khavaʾ, “to hide”) but from a homonym, “to congeal.” This may be too difficult to support, however.

⁴ tn The NEB has “my tent rope,” but that seems too contrived here. It is absurd to pull up a tent-rope like a tree.

¹ tn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is intended to mean that man is too little for God to be making so much over him in all this.

³ tn The LXX misread the prepositional phrase as the noun “their cities”; it gives the line as “They too that trust in cities and riches shall come to shame.”

³ tn The LXX has rendered “holy ones” as “holy angels” (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT). The LXX has interpreted the verb in the colon too freely: “if you will see.”

¹ sn The bed and blanket probably symbolize their false sense of security. A bed that is too short and a blanket that is too narrow may promise rest and protection from the cold, but in the end they are useless and disappointing. In the same way, their supposed treaty with death will prove useless and disappointing.

² tn Heb “all of them.” The proverb may be emphasizing that everyone has the same creator regardless of their financial status, or be pointing out that God is the one who makes rich or poor. Either way it advises treating all people with respect, and not thinking too much, or too little, of oneself.

² tn Many commentators add the first part of v. 15 to this verse because it is too loaded and this is too short. That gives the reading “My kinsmen and my familiar friends have disappeared, they have forgotten me (15) the guests I entertained.” There is not much support for this, nor is there much reason for it.

¹ tn Heb “after eating in Shiloh, and after drinking.” Since Hannah had refused to eat, it must refer to the others. The Hebrew also sets off the phrase “and after drinking” probably to prepare the reader for Eli’s mistaken assumption that Hannah had had too much too drink.