¹ tn Heb “lacking of mind.” The term לֵב (lev, “mind, heart”) refers by metonymy to thinking, and by extension to discernment, wisdom, good sense. Cf. KJV, ASV “a man void of understanding”; NIV “a man lacking in judgment.”

⁴ sn The noun מַחְסוֹר (makhsor, “need; thing needed; poverty”) comes from the verb “to lack; to be lacking; to decrease; to need.” A person given to idle talk rather than industrious work will have needs that go unmet.

¹ tn Heb “[As for one] lacking of mind—she has said to him.” The pronominal suffix is a resumptive pronoun, meaning, “she has said to the [person] lacking of mind.”

¹ tn Although βασιλεύς (basileus) lacks the article it is definite due to contextual and syntactical considerations. See ExSyn 263.

² tc The reference to worship is lacking in the Western ms D, its last major omission in this Gospel.

¹ tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.

³ sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s lack of clear direction and purpose without the Lord’s control.

¹ tn Heb “lacking of men.” If the genitive is taken as specifying (“lacking with respect to men”), then the idea is that he lacked company because he was rejected by people. Another option is to take the genitive as indicating genus or larger class (i.e., “one lacking among men”). In this case one could translate, “he was a transient” (cf. the use of חָדֵל [khadel] in Ps 39:5 HT [39:4 ET]).

¹ sn The generous individual will be rewarded. He will not lack nor miss what he has given away to the poor.

¹ sn Personal integrity ensures domestic stability and prosperity, while lack of such integrity (= wickedness) will lead to the opposite.

³ tn Heb “ways of darkness.” Darkness is often metaphorical for sinfulness, ignorance, or oppression. Their way of life lacks spiritual illumination.

¹ tn Heb “like a dream from awakening.” They lack any real substance; their prosperity will last for only a brief time.

¹ tc The Hebrew text lacks the verb “worked.” It is implied, however, and has been supplied in the translation.

¹ tn Heb “Indeed what do you lack with me, that now you are seeking to go to your land?”

³ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.

¹ tc Heb “all the house of Israel.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack the words “the house.”

¹ tc The MT (Kethib) lacks the preposition אֵלַי (ʾelay, “to me”) which is attested in the marginal reading (Qere).

¹ tn Heb “whose spirit lacks restraint” (ASV similar). A person whose spirit (רוּחַ, ruakh) “lacks restraint” is one who is given to outbursts of passion, who lacks self-control (cf. NIV, NRSV, CEV, NLT). This person has no natural defenses but reveals his true nature all the time. The proverb is stating that without self-control a person is vulnerable, like a city without defenses.

¹ tn The word “But” is not in the Greek text, but the contrast is clearly implied. This is a case of asyndeton (lack of a connective).

² tn Here the pronoun αὐτόν (auton), referring to Jesus, is in an emphatic position. The one thing they lacked was solid evidence that he was alive.