(0.18) | (Pro 15:30) | 1 tc The LXX has “the eye that sees beautiful things.” D. W. Thomas suggests pointing מְאוֹר (meʾor) as a Hophal participle, “a fine sight cheers the mind” (“Textual and Philological Notes,” 205). But little is to be gained from this change. |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:27) | 2 sn The participle “troubles” (עֹכֵר, ʿokher) can have the connotation of making things difficult for the family, or completely ruining the family (cf. NAB). In Josh 7:1 Achan took some of the “banned things” and was put to death: Because he “troubled Israel,” the Lord would “trouble” him (take his life, Josh 7:25). |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:23) | 2 tn Heb “in the answer of his mouth” (so ASV); NASB “in an apt answer.” The term “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what he says. But because the parallelism is loosely synonymous, the answer given here must be equal to the good word spoken in season. So it is an answer that is proper or fitting. |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:21) | 3 tn The Hebrew construction is יְיַשֶּׁר־לָכֶת (yeyasher lakhet, “makes straight [to] go”). This is a verbal hendiadys, in which the first verb, the Piel imperfect, becomes adverbial, and the second form, the infinitive construct of הָלַךְ, halakh, becomes the main verb: “goes straight ahead” (cf. NRSV). |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:18) | 4 sn The fact that רִיב (riv) is used for “quarrel; strife” strongly implies that the setting is the courtroom or other legal setting (the gates of the city). The hot-headed person is eager to turn every disagreement into a legal case. |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:19) | 1 tn Heb “like an overgrowth”; NRSV “overgrown with thorns”; cf. CEV “like walking in a thorn patch.” The point of the simile is that the path of life taken by the lazy person has many obstacles that are painful—it is like trying to break through a hedge of thorns. The LXX has “strewn with thorns.” |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:9) | 4 sn God hates the way of the wicked, that is, their lifestyle and things they do. God loves those who pursue righteousness, the Piel verb signifying a persistent pursuit. W. G. Plaut says, “He who loves God will be moved to an active, persistent, and even dangerous search for justice” (Proverbs, 170). |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:11) | 2 tn The construction אַף כִּי (ʾaf ki, “how much more!”) introduces an argument from the lesser to the greater: If all this is open before the Lord, how much more so human hearts. “Hearts” here is a metonymy of subject, meaning the motives and thoughts (cf. NCV “the thoughts of the living”). |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:8) | 2 sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the Lord because the worshipers are insincere and blasphemous (e.g., Prov 15:29; 21:3; 28:9; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:10-17). In other words, the spiritual condition of the worshiper determines whether or not the worship is acceptable to God. |
(0.18) | (Pro 15:6) | 2 tn Heb “being ruined.” The Niphal participle of עָכַר (ʿakhar; “to disturb, trouble, ruin”) may be understood substantivally, meaning “disturbance, calamity” (BDB 747 s.v. עָכַר) or a “thing troubled,” thus perhaps “[it] is ruined/ruinous.” Or it may be viewed verbally, “will be ruined” (HALOT 824 s.v. עכר nif). The LXX translates “will be ruined.” |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:28) | 3 sn The word means “ruin; destruction,” but in this context it could be a metonymy of effect, the cause being an attack by more numerous people that will bring ruin to the ruler. The proverb is purely a practical and secular saying, unlike some of the faith teachings in salvation history passages. |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:24) | 1 sn C. H. Toy suggests that this line probably means that wealth is an ornament to those who use it well (Proverbs [ICC], 269). J. H. Greenstone suggests that it means that the wisdom of the wise, which is their crown of glory, constitutes their wealth (Proverbs, 155). |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:17) | 3 tc The LXX reads “endures” (from נָשָׂא, nasaʾ) rather than “is hated” (from שָׂנֵא, saneʾ). This change seems to have arisen on the assumption that a contrast was needed. It has: “a man of thought endures.” Other versions take מְזִמּוֹת (mezimmot) in a good sense, but antithetical parallelism is unwarranted here. |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:23) | 1 sn The Hebrew term עֶצֶב (ʿetsev, “painful toil; labor”) is first used in scripture in Gen 3:19 to describe the effects of the Fall. The point here is that people should be more afraid of idle talk than of hard labor. |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:15) | 1 sn The contrast is with the simpleton and the shrewd. The simpleton is the young person who is untrained morally or intellectually, and therefore gullible. The shrewd one is the prudent person, the one who has the ability to make critical discriminations. |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:12) | 2 tn Or “but after it are the ways of death.” The phrase “ways of death” features the result of these paths. Here death means ruin (cf. Prov 7:27). Possibly the proverb envisions that the initial path which seemed good leads to other paths whose outcomes are all ruinous. |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:7) | 1 tc Instead of לֵךְ (lekh) “walk,” the LXX reads “all,” implying the reversal of the two consonants as כֹּל (kol). The Hebrew would mean “everything is opposite of the foolish person.” This is perhaps an idiomatic way of saying that from the fool’s perspective, everything is opposed to him. |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:6) | 3 tn The verb קָלַל (qalal) is a stative verb meaning to “be small, insignificant, quick, easy.” Stative verbs seldom appear in the Niphal, as the verb does here. But in the Niphal they are often ingressive, “knowledge (be)came easy for the discerning.” |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:5) | 3 sn This saying addresses the problem of legal testimony: A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness does lie—naturally. The first colon uses the verb כָּזַב (kazav, “to lie”) and the second colon uses the noun כָּזָב (kazav, “lie; falsehood”). |
(0.18) | (Pro 14:2) | 2 tn Heb “crooked of ways”; NRSV “devious in conduct.” This construct phrase features a genitive of specification: “crooked in reference to his ways.” The term “ways” is an idiom for moral conduct. The evidence that people fear the Lord is uprightness; the evidence of those who despise him is the devious ways. |