translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PRO

label: NET study note

text: This proverb does not state how the disgrace will come, but affirms that it will follow pride. The proud will be brought down.


text: This contrasts two lifestyles, affirming the value of integrity. The upright live with integrity – blamelessness – and that integrity leads them in success and happiness. Those who use treachery will be destroyed by it.


text: The “day of wrath” refers to divine punishment in this life (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 67; e.g., also Job 21:30 ; Ezek 7:19 ; Zeph 1:18 ). Righteousness and not wealth is more valuable in anticipating judgment.


text: The righteous will enjoy security and serenity throughout life. Righteousness makes the path straight; wickedness destroys the wicked.


text: The contrast is between being rescued or delivered ( נָצַל , natsal ) and being captured ( לָכַד , lakhad ). Righteousness is freeing; [evil] desires are enslaving.


text: The Hebrew word originally meant “impious, godless, polluted, profane.” It later developed the idea of a “hypocrite” ( Dan 11:32 ), one who conceals his evil under the appearance of godliness or kindness. This one is a false flatterer.


text: The verb שָׁחַת ( shakhat ) means “to destroy; to ruin” (e.g., the destruction of Sodom in Gen 13:10 ). The imperfect tense is probably not an habitual imperfect (because the second colon shows exceptions), but probably a progressive imperfect (“this goes on”) or potential imperfect (“they can do this”).


text: The antithetical proverb states that a righteous person can escape devastating slander through knowledge. The righteous will have sufficient knowledge and perception to see through the hypocrisy and avoid its effect.


text: The verb תַּעֲלֹץ ( ta ’ alots , “to rejoice; to exult”) is paralleled with the noun רִנָּה ( rinnah , “ringing cry”). The descriptions are hyperbolic, except when the person who dies is one who afflicted society (e.g., 2 Kgs 11:20 ; Esth 8:15 ). D. Kidner says, “However drab the world makes out virtue to be, it appreciates the boon of it in public life” ( Proverbs [TOTC], 91).


text: What the wicked say has a disastrous effect on society, endangering, weakening, demoralizing, and perverting with malicious and slanderous words. Wicked leaders, in particular, can bring destruction on a city by their evil counsel.


text: The verb translated “keeps silence” ( יַחֲרִישׁ , yakharish ) means “holds his peace.” Rather than publicly denouncing another person’s mistake or folly, a wise person will keep quiet about it (e.g., 1 Sam 10:27 ). A discerning person realizes that the neighbor may become an opponent and someday retaliate.


text: The “stranger” could refer to a person from another country or culture, as it often does; but it could also refer to an unknown Israelite, with the idea that the individual stands outside the known and respectable community.


text: The participle “sowing” provides an implied comparison (the figure is known as hypocatastasis) with the point of practicing righteousness and inspiring others to do the same. What is sown will yield fruit ( 1 Cor 9:11 ; 2 Cor 9:6 ; Jas 3:18 ).


text: A wordplay (paronomasia) occurs between “deceptive” ( שָׁקֶר , shaqer ) and “reward” ( שֶׂכֶר , sekher ), underscoring the contrast by the repetition of sounds. The wages of the wicked are deceptive; the reward of the righteous is sure.


text: “Life” and “death” describe the vicissitudes of this life but can also refer to the situation beyond the grave. The two paths head in opposite directions.


text: The word עִקְּשֵׁי (“crooked; twisted; perverted”) describes the wicked as having “twisted minds.” Their mentality is turned toward evil things.


text: The noun means “goodwill, favor, acceptance, will”; it is related to the verb רָצַה ( ratsah ) which means “to be pleased with; to accept favorably.” These words are used frequently in scripture to describe what pleases the Lord , meaning, what he accepts. In particular, sacrifices offered properly find acceptance with God ( Ps 51:19 ). Here the lifestyle that is blameless pleases him.


text: The proverb refers to a merchant who holds back his grain from the free market to raise prices when there is a great need for the produce. It is assumed that merchants are supposed to have a social conscience.


text: The implication from the parallelism is that the righteous do not trust in their own riches, but in the Lord .


text: The “fool” here is the “troubler” of the first half. One who mismanages his affairs so badly so that there is nothing for the family may have to sell himself into slavery to the wise. The ideas of the two halves of the verse are complementary.