translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PRO

label: NET study note

text: This expression forms an understatement ( tapeinosis ); the opposite is the point – he detests understanding or discernment.


text: “Contempt” ( בּוּז , buz ) accompanies the wicked; “reproach” ( חֶרְפָּה , kherpah ) goes with shame. This reproach refers to the critical rebukes and taunts of the community against a wicked person.


text: The metaphor “deep waters” indicates either that the words have an inexhaustible supply or that they are profound.


text: This is an implied comparison ( hypocatastasis ), the fountain of wisdom being the person who speaks. The Greek version has “fountain of life” instead of “wisdom,” probably influenced from 10:11 .


text: The point of this metaphor is that the wisdom is a continuous source of refreshing and beneficial ideas.


text: The “lips” is a metonymy of cause, meaning what the fool says. The “mouth” in the second colon is likewise a metonymy for speech, what comes out of the mouth.


text: “Strife” is a metonymy of cause, it is the cause of the beating or flogging that follows; “flogging” in the second colon is a metonymy of effect, the flogging is the effect of the strife. The two together give the whole picture.


text: These two troubling types, the slacker and the destroyer, are closely related.


text: The “name of the Lord ” is a metonymy of subject. The “name” here signifies not the personal name “Yahweh,” for that would be redundant in the expression “the name of Yahweh,” but the attributes of the Lord (cf. Exod 34:5-7 ) – here his power to protect.


text: The metaphor of “running” to the Lord refers to a whole-hearted and unwavering trust in God’s protection (e.g., Isa 40:31 ).


text: This proverb forms a contrast with the previous one. The rich, unlike the righteous, trust in wealth and not in God.


text: The term “heart” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the seat of the spiritual and intellectual capacities – the mind, the will, the motivations and intentions. Proud ambitions and intentions will lead to a fall.


text: The way to honor is through humility (e.g., Prov 11:2; 15:33; 16:18 ). The humility and exaltation of Jesus provides the classic example ( Phil 2:1-10 ).


text: Poor listening and premature answering indicate that the person has a low regard for what the other is saying, or that he is too absorbed in his own ideas. The Mishnah lists this as the second characteristic of the uncultured person ( m. Avot 5:7).


text: This is a rhetorical question, asserting that very few can cope with depression.


text: The figure of a “crushed spirit” (ASV, NAB, NCV, NRSV “a broken spirit,” comparing depression to something smashed or crushed) suggests a broken will, a loss of vitality, despair, and emotional pain. In physical sickness one can fall back on the will to live; but in depression even the will to live is gone.


text: This line features a mixed metaphor: The “ear” is pictured “seeking.” The “ear of the wise” actually means the wise person’s capacity to hear, and so the wise are seeking as they hear.


text: The Hebrew term translated “gift” is a more general term than “bribe” ( שֹׁחַד , shokhad ), used in 17:8, 23 . But it also has danger (e.g., 15:27; 21:14 ), for by giving gifts one might learn how influential they are and use them for bribes. The proverb simply states that a gift can expedite matters.


text: The two verbs here show a progression, helping to form the synthetic parallelism. The gift first “makes room” ( יַרְחִיב , yarkhiv ) for the person, that is, extending a place for him, and then “ushers him in” ( יַנְחֵנּוּ , yakhenu ) among the greats.


text: The proverb is a continuous sentence teaching that there must be cross-examination to settle legal disputes. There are two sides in any disputes, and so even though the first to present his case sounds right, it must be challenged. The verb הָקַר ( haqar , translated “cross-examines”) is used for careful, diligent searching and investigating to know something (e.g., Ps 139:1 ).


text: The proverb is talking about changing a friend or a relative into an enemy by abuse or strife – the bars go up, as it were. And the “walls” that are erected are not easily torn down.


text: Two images are used in this proverb: the fruit of the mouth and the harvest of the lips. They are synonymous; the first is applied to the orchard and the second to the field. The “mouth” and the “lips” are metonymies of cause, and so both lines are speaking about speech that is productive.


text: What people say can lead to life or death. The Midrash on Psalms shows one way the tongue [what is said] can cause death: “The evil tongue slays three, the slanderer, the slandered, and the listener” ( Midrash Tehillim 52:2). See J. G. Williams, “The Power of Form: A Study of Biblical Proverbs,” Semeia 17 (1980): 35-38.


text: The rich person responds harshly to the request. He has hardened himself against such appeals because of relentless demands. The proverb is an observation saying; it simply describes the way the world generally works, rather than setting this out as the ideal.