Proverbs 14:17

A person who has a quick temper ¹  does foolish things, and a person with crafty schemes ²  is hated. ³ 

Es 3:6; Es 7:5,6; Pr 6:18; Pr 12:2; Pr 12:16; Pr 14:29; Pr 15:18; Pr 16:32; Pr 22:24; Pr 29:22; Ec 7:9; Isa 32:7; Jer 5:26-29; Jas 1:19

¹ sn The proverb discusses two character traits that are distasteful to others – the quick tempered person (“short of anger” or impatient) and the crafty person (“man of devices”). C. H. Toy thinks that the proverb is antithetical and renders it “but a wise man endures” (Proverbs [ICC], 292). In other words, the quick-tempered person acts foolishly and loses people’s respect, but the wise man does not.

² tn Heb “a man of devices.”

³ tc The LXX reads “endures” (from נָשָׂא, nasa’) rather than “is hated” (from שָׂנֵא, sane’). 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 (mÿzimmot) in a good sense; but antithetical parallelism is unwarranted here.