Proverbs 21:20

There is desirable treasure and olive oil ¹  in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish person ²  devours all he has. ³ 

In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man swallows it up.

The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.

Valuables are safe in a wise person's home; fools put it all out for yard sales.

There is a store of great value in the house of the wise, but it is wasted by the foolish man.

Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it.

There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it.

There is desirable treasure and olive oil ¹  in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish person ²  devours all he has. ³ 

¹ tn The mention of “olive oil” (שֶׁמֶן, shemen) is problematic in the line – how can a fool devour it? Several attempts have been made to alleviate the problem. The NIV interprets “treasure” as “choice food,” so that food and oil would make more sense being swallowed. C. H. Toy (Proverbs [ICC], 406) suggests dropping “oil” altogether based on the reading in the LXX, but the Greek is too general for any support: It has “precious treasure will rest on the mouth of the sage.” W. McKane wants to change “oil” to an Arabic word “expensive” to read “desirable and rare wealth” (Proverbs [OTL], 552), but this idea does not match the metaphor any better. The figure of “devouring” in the second line simply means the fool uses up whatever he has.

² tn Heb “a fool of a man.”

³ tn Heb “he swallows it.” The imagery compares swallowing food with consuming one’s substance. The fool does not prepare for the future.