¹ tn Heb “were extinguished.”

¹ tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”

² tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”

² tn The verb זָעַךְ (zaʿaq, equivalent of Aramaic דָעַק [daʿaq]) means “to be extinguished.” It only occurs here in the Hebrew.

³ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

³ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

² sn For the lamp to be extinguished would mean death (e.g., 13:9) and possibly also the removal of posterity (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 115).

³ sn The lamp is an implied comparison as well, comparing the life of the wicked to a lamp that is going to be extinguished.

² sn They hid the torches inside the earthenware jars to disguise their approach and to keep the torches from being extinguished by the breeze.

⁴ tn The verb דָּעַךְ (daʿakh) means “to go out [in reference to a fire or lamp]; to be extinguished.” The idea is that of being made extinct, snuffed out (cf. NIV, NLT). The imagery may have been drawn from the sanctuary where the flame was to be kept burning perpetually. Not so with the wicked.

² tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (doʿakhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (baʿaru, “they burned”). In that case the statement emphasizes their hostility.

² tn The verb נִדְעֲכוּ (nidʿakhu) literally means “they are extinguished” or “they vanish” (cf. 18:5-6; 21:17). The LXX, perhaps confusing the word with the verb יָדַע (yadaʿ, “to know”) has “and it is not known what it was.”

² sn The Greek word translated shield (θυρεός, thureos) refers to the Roman soldier’s large rectangular wooden shield, called in Latin scutum, about 4 ft (1.2 m) high, covered with leather on the outside. Before a battle in which flaming arrows might be shot at them, the soldiers wet the leather covering with water to extinguish the arrows. The Roman legionaries could close ranks with these shields, the first row holding theirs edge to edge in front, and the rows behind holding the shields above their heads. In this formation they were practically invulnerable to arrows, rocks, and even spears.