³ sn Merchants would use a smaller than standard measure so they could give the customer less than he thought he was paying for.

³ tn Heb “let Jerusalem go up upon your heart.” The “heart” is often viewed as the seat of one’s mental faculties and thought life.

² tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” See the note on the phrase “do not take any thought of me” in 9:3.

¹ sn This medicinal ointment (Heb “balm”) consisted of the gum or resin from a tree of uncertain identification thought to have medicinal value (see also Jer 46:11).

¹ tn Heb “And I myself said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.

¹ tn The word “thinking” is supplied in the translation in order to make it clear that the next line records their thoughts as they gaze at him.

² tn The Hebrew term לֶב (lev) refers to the “mind” (NRSV) as well as the “heart” (KJV, NIV, NASB). The expression refers to unspoken thoughts.

² tn The proverb is one continuous thought, but the second half of the verse provides the purpose for the imperatives of the first half.

⁵ tc The LXX adds this embellishment to complete the thought: “Whoever puts away a good wife puts away good, and whoever keeps an adulteress is foolish and ungodly.”

³ tn Heb “it is folly to him and shame.” The verse uses formal parallelism, with the second colon simply completing the thought of the first.

¹ sn Humans may set things in order, plan out what they are going to say, but God sovereignly enables them to put their thoughts into words.

² sn The phrase “the heart of fools” emphasizes that fools do not comprehend knowledge. Cf. NCV “there is no knowledge in the thoughts of fools.”

² tn Heb “the thoughts of [their] heart [i.e., mind] cross over” (i.e., violate God’s moral boundary, see Ps 17:3).

¹ tn Heb “the law of his God [is] in his heart.” The “heart” is here the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

¹ tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.

² tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.

¹ tn Heb “the innocent of hands and the pure of heart.” The “hands” allude to one’s actions, the “heart” to one’s thought life and motives.

¹ sn The modern stone known as sapphire is thought not to have been used until Roman times, and so some other stone is probably meant here, perhaps lapis lazuli.

³ tn The words “for these streams” are supplied from context to complete the thought and make the connection with the preceding context.

¹ tn Heb “keep this permanently with respect to the motive of the thoughts of the heart of your people, and make firm their heart to you.”