translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PRO

label: NET translator note

text: The two participles לֵץ ( lets , “mocker”) and הֹמֶה ( homeh , “brawler”) are substantives; they function as predicates in the sentence. Excessive use of intoxicants excites the drinker to boisterous behavior and aggressive attitudes – it turns them into mockers and brawlers.


text: Heb “the terror of a king” (so ASV, NASB); The term “terror” is a metonymy of effect for cause: the anger of a king that causes terror among the people. The term “king” functions as a possessive genitive: “a king’s anger” (cf. NIV “A king’s wrath”; NLT “The king’s fury”).


text: The verb מִתְעַבְּרוֹ ( mit ’ abbÿro ) is problematic; in the MT the form is the Hitpael participle with a pronominal suffix, which is unusual, for the direct object of this verb usually takes a preposition first: “is angry with.” The LXX rendered it “angers [or, irritates].”


text: Heb “man.”


text: Heb “cessation” ( שֶׁבֶת , shevet ); NAB “to shun strife”; NRSV “refrain from strife.” sn One cannot avoid conflict altogether; but the proverb is instructing that at the first sign of conflict the honorable thing to do is to find a way to end it.


text: Heb “breaks out.” The Hitpael of the verb גָּלַע ( gala ’, “to expose; to lay bare”) means “to break out; to disclose oneself,” and so the idea of flaring up in a quarrel is clear. But there are also cognate connections to the idea of “showing the teeth; snarling” and so quarreling viciously.


text: Heb “in the autumn”; ASV “by reason of the winter.” The noun means “autumn, harvest time.” The right time for planting was after the harvest and the rainy season of autumn and winter began.


text: The Piel of the verb שָׁאַל ( sha ’ al , “to ask”) means “to beg” or “to inquire carefully.” At the harvest time he looks for produce but there is none. The Piel might suggest, however, that because he did not plant, or did not do it at the right time, he is reduced to begging and will have nothing (cf. KJV, ASV; NASB “he begs during the harvest”).


text: The phrase “for the crop” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.


text: Heb “in the heart of a man”; NRSV “in the human mind.”


text: The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.


text: Heb “a man of understanding”; TEV “someone with insight”; NLT “the wise.”


text: Heb “many a man calls/proclaims a man of his loyal love.” The Syriac and Tg . Prov 20:6 render the verb as passive: “many are called kind.” Other suggestions include: “most men meet people who will do them occasional kindnesses” (RSV); “many men profess friendship” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 384); “many men invite only the one who has shown them kindness.” The simplest interpretation in this context is “many proclaim [themselves to be] a kind person (= a loyal friend).” The contrast is between many who claim to be loyal friends and the one who actually proves to be faithful.


text: The shift to the expression “a man of faithfulness[es]” in the second line indicates that of all those who claim to show faithful love, it is rare to find one who is truly reliable (as the word אֱמוּנִים [’ emunim ] indicates clearly); cf. NAB, NRSV “one worthy of trust.”


text: Heb “walks in his integrity” (so NASB); cf. NIV “leads a blameless life.” The Hitpael participle of הָלַךְ ( halakh ) means “to walk about; to walk to and fro.” The idiom of walking representing living is intensified here in this stem. This verbal stem is used in scripture to describe people “walking with” God.


text: The infinitive construct is דִּין ; it indicates purpose, “to judge” (so NIV, NCV) even though it does not have the preposition with it.


text: The second line uses the image of winnowing (cf. NIV, NRSV) to state that the king’s judgment removes evil from the realm. The verb form is מִזָרֶה ( mÿzareh ), the Piel participle. It has been translated “to sift; to winnow; to scatter” and “to separate” – i.e., separate out evil from the land. The text is saying that a just government roots out evil (cf. NAB “dispels all evil”), but few governments have been consistently just.


text: The verb form זִכִּיתִי ( zikkiti ) is the Piel perfect of זָכָה ( zakhah , “to be clear; to be clean; to be pure”). The verb has the idea of “be clear, justified, acquitted.” In this stem it is causative: “I have made my heart clean” (so NRSV) or “kept my heart pure” (so NIV). This would be claiming that all decisions and motives were faultless.


text: The construction simply uses repetition to express different kinds of weights and measures: “a stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah.”


text: Heb “an abomination of the Lord .” The phrase features a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.” sn Behind this proverb is the image of the dishonest merchant who has different sets of weights and measures which are used to cheat customers. The Lord hates dishonesty in business transactions.


text: The second line uses two imperatives in a sequence (without the vav [ ו ]): “open your eyes” and then (or, in order that) you will “be satisfied.”


text: Heb “bread” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV), although the term often serves in a generic sense for food in general.


text: Heb “[It is] bad, [it is] bad.” Since “bad” can be understood in some modern contexts as a descriptive adjective meaning “good,” the translation uses “worthless” instead – the real point of the prospective buyer’s exclamation.


text: The Hitpael imperfect of הָלַל ( halal ) means “to praise” – to talk in glowing terms, excitedly. In this stem it means “to praise oneself; to boast.”


text: The verse is usually taken as antithetical parallelism: There may be gold and rubies but the true gem is knowledge. However, C. H. Toy arranges it differently: “store of gold and wealth of corals and precious vessels – all are wise lips” ( Proverbs [ICC], 388). But this uses the gems as metaphors for wise speech, and does not stress the contrast between wealth and wisdom.


text: Heb “lips of knowledge.” The term “lips” is a metonymy for speaking, and “knowledge” could be either an attributive genitive or objective genitive: “knowledgeable lips.” Lips that impart knowledge are the true jewel to be sought.


text: The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.


text: Heb “his garment.”


label: NET textual note

text: The Kethib has the masculine plural form, נָכְרִים ( nakhrim ), suggesting a reading “strangers.” But the Qere has the feminine form נָכְרִיָּה ( nakhriyyah ), “strange woman” or “another man’s wife” (e.g., 27:13 ). The parallelism would suggest “strangers” is the correct reading, although theories have been put forward for the interpretation of “strange woman” (see below). sn The one for whom the pledge is taken is called “a stranger” and “foreign.” These two words do not necessarily mean that the individual or individuals are non-Israelite – just outside the community and not well known.


text: M. Dahood argues that the cloak was taken in pledge for a harlot (cf. NIV “a wayward woman”). Two sins would then be committed: taking a cloak and going to a prostitute (“To Pawn One’s Cloak,” Bib 42 [1961]: 359-66; also Snijders, “The Meaning of זָר ,” 85-86). In the MT the almost identical proverb in 27:13 has a feminine singular form here.


text: Heb “bread of deceit” (so KJV, NAB). This refers to food gained through dishonest means. The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific for general, referring to anything obtained by fraud, including food.


text: Heb “a man.”


text: The noun form is plural, but the verb is singular, suggesting either an abstract plural or a collective plural is being used here.


text: The clause begins with vav ( ו ) on “with guidance.” But the clause has an imperative for its main verb. One could take the imperfect tense in the first colon as an imperfect of injunction, and then this clause would be also instructional. But the imperfect tense is a Niphal, and so it is better to take the first colon as the foundational clause and the second colon as the consequence (cf. NAB): If that is true, then you should do this.


text: The form is the Hitpael imperfect (of prohibition or instruction) from עָרַב (’ arav ). BDB 786-88 lists six roots with these radicals. The first means “to mix,” but only occurs in derivatives. BDB 786 lists this form under the second root, which means “to take on a pledge; to exchange.” The Hitpael is then defined as “to exchange pledges; to have fellowship with [or, share].” The proverb is warning people to have nothing to do with gossips.


text: The verb פֹּתֶה ( poteh ) is a homonym, related to I פָּתָה ( patah , “to be naive; to be foolish”; HALOT 984-85 s.v. I פתה ) or II פָּתָה (“to open [the lips]; to chatter”; HALOT 985 s.v. II פתה ). So the phrase וּלְפֹתֶה שְׂפָתָיו may be understood either (1) as HALOT 985 s.v. II פתה suggests, “one opens his lips” = he is always talking/gossiping, or (2) as BDB suggests, “one who is foolish as to his lips” (he lacks wisdom in what he says; see BDB 834 s.v. פָּתָה 1, noted in HALOT 984 s.v. I פתה 1). The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for what is said: gossip. If such a person is willing to talk about others, he will be willing to talk about you, so it is best to avoid him altogether.


text: The form is the Piel participle of קָלַל ( qalal ), which means “to be light”; in the Piel stem it means “to take lightly; to treat as worthless; to treat contemptuously; to curse.” Under the Mosaic law such treatment of parents brought a death penalty ( Exod 21:17 ; Lev 20:9 ; Deut 27:16 ).


text: “His lamp” is a figure known as hypocatastasis (an implied comparison) meaning “his life.” Cf. NLT “the lamp of your life”; TEV “your life will end like a lamp.” sn For the lamp to be extinguished would mean death (e.g., 13:9 ) and possibly also the removal of posterity (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 115).


text: The Kethib , followed by the LXX, Syriac, and Latin, has בְּאִישׁוֹן ( bÿ ’ ishon ), “in the pupil of the eye darkness,” the dark spot of the eye. But the Qere has בֶּאֱשׁוּן ( be ’ eshun ), probably to be rendered “pitch” or “blackest,” although the form occurs nowhere else. The meaning with either reading is approximately the same – deep darkness, which adds vividly to the figure of the lamp being snuffed out. This individual’s destruction will be total and final.


text: The Kethib reads מְבֻחֶלֶת ( mÿbukhelet ), “gotten by greed” (based on a cognate Syriac verb, “to be greedy”); but the Qere is מְבֹהֶלֶת ( mÿvohelet ), “gotten hastily [or, quickly].” A large number of mss and the ancient versions read with the Qere (cf. KJV, ASV “gotten hastily”; NAB “gained hastily”; NIV “quickly gained”; NRSV “quickly acquired”). sn If the inheritance is obtained quickly, it could mean prematurely (e.g., Luke 15:12 ) or cruelly ( Prov 19:26 ). The inheritance is gained without labor or without preparation.


text: The form is the Pual imperfect, “will not be blessed,” suggesting that divine justice is at work. sn The Hebrew verb means “enriched, made fruitful, prospered.” Whatever the inheritance was, it will not reach its full potential or even remain permanent.


text: Heb “in its end”; KJV, ASV “the end thereof.”


text: The verse is directly instructive; it begins with the negated jussive in the first colon, and follows with the imperative in the second. It warns that the righteous should not take vengeance on the wicked, for only God can do that.


text: The form is the Piel cohortative of resolve – “I am determined to pay back.” The verb שָׁלֵם ( shalem ) means “to be complete; to be sound.” In this stem, however, it can mean “to make complete; to make good; to requite; to recompense” (KJV, ASV). The idea is “getting even” by paying back someone for the evil done.


text: After the imperative, the jussive is subordinated in a purpose or result clause: “wait for the Lord so that he may deliver you.” The verb יֹשַׁע ( yosha ’) means “to save (KJV, ASV, NASB); to deliver (NIV); to give victory”; in this context it means “deliver from the evil done to you,” and so “vindicate” is an appropriate connotation. Cf. NCV “he will make things right.”


text: Heb “an abomination of the Lord .” This expression features a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.”


text: Heb “not good.” This is a figure known as tapeinosis – a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario: “it is wicked!” (e.g., 11:1; 20:10 ).


text: Heb “the steps of a man”; but “man” is the noun גֶּבֶר ( gever , in pause), indicating an important, powerful person. BDB 149-50 s.v. suggests it is used of men in their role of defending women and children; if that can be validated, then a translation of “man” would be appropriate here. But the line seems to have a wider, more general application. The “steps” represent (by implied comparison) the course of life (cf. NLT “the road we travel”).


text: Heb “from the Lord ”; NRSV “ordered by the Lord”; NIV “directed by the Lord.” sn To say that one’s steps are ordained by the Lord means that one’s course of actions, one’s whole life, is divinely prepared and sovereignly superintended (e.g., Gen 50:26 ; Prov 3:6 ). Ironically, man is not actually in control of his own steps.


text: The verse uses an independent nominative absolute to point up the contrast between the mortal and the immortal: “and man, how can he understand his way?” The verb in the sentence would then be classified as a potential imperfect; and the whole question rhetorical. It is affirming that humans cannot understand very much at all about their lives.


text: Heb “his way.” The referent of the third masculine singular pronoun is unclear, so the word “own” was supplied in the translation to clarify that the referent is the human individual, not the Lord.


text: Heb “a man.”


text: The verb is from לוּע ( lu ’) or לָעַע ( la ’ a ’); it means “to talk wildly” (not to be confused with the homonym “to swallow”). It occurs here and in Job 6:3 . sn This refers to speaking rashly in dedicating something to the sanctuary by calling it “Holy.”


text: Heb “reflect on.” The person is to consider the vows before making them, to ensure that they can be fulfilled. Too many people make their vow or promise without thinking, and then later worry about how they will fulfill their vows.


text: Heb “the vows” (so NASB); CEV “promises.”


text: Heb “winnows” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). The sage draws on the process of winnowing to explain how the king uncovers and removes wickedness. The verb from which the participle מְזָרֶה ( mÿzareh ) is derived means “to separate; to winnow; to scatter”; the implied comparison means that the king will separate good people from bad people like wheat is separated from chaff. The image of winnowing is also used in divine judgment. The second line of the verse uses a detail of the process to make the point. Driving a wheel over the wheat represents the threshing process; the sharp iron wheels of the cart would easily serve the purpose (e.g., Isa 28:27-28 ).


text: The king has the wisdom/ability to destroy evil from his kingdom. See also D. W. Thomas, “ Proverbs 20:26 ,” JTS 15 (1964): 155-56.


text: The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.


text: The “lamp” is the metaphor in the line; it signifies that the human spirit functions as a conscience, enabling people to know and please God, and directing them in choices that will be life-giving. E. Loewenstamm unnecessarily reads נִיר ( nir , “to plow”) instead of נֵר ( ner , “lamp”) to say that God plows and examines the soul (“Remarks on Proverbs 17:12 and 20:27 ,” VT 37 [1967]: 233). The NIV supplies a verb (“searches”) from the second half of the verse, changing the emphasis somewhat.


text: Heb “all the chambers of the belly.” This means “the inner parts of the body” (BDB 293 s.v. חֶדֶר ); cf. NASB “the innermost parts of his being.”


text: The first line uses two Hebrew words, חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת ( khesed ve ’ emet , “loyal love and truth”), to tell where security lies. The first word is the covenant term for “loyal love; loving-kindness; mercy”; and the second is “truth” in the sense of what is reliable and dependable. The two words often are joined together to form a hendiadys: “faithful love.” That a hendiadys is intended here is confirmed by the fact that the second line uses only the critical word חֶסֶד .


text: The Hebrew term תִּפְאֶרֶת ( tif ’ eret ) means “beauty; glory”; in a context like this it means “honor” in the sense of glorying or boasting (BDB 802 s.v. 3 .b).


text: The Hebrew term הֲדַר ( hadar ), the noun in construct, means “splendor; honor; ornament.” The latter sense is used here, since grey hair is like a crown on the head.


text: The verb מָרַק ( maraq ) means “to polish; to scour”; in the Hiphil it means “to cleanse away,” but it is only attested here, and that in the Kethib reading of תַּמְרִיק ( tamriq ). The Qere has תַּמְרוּק ( tamruq , “are a means of cleansing”). The LXX has “blows and contusions fall on evil men, and stripes penetrate their inner beings”; the Latin has “the bruise of a wound cleanses away evil things.” C. H. Toy suggests emending the text to read “stripes cleanse the body, and blows the inward parts” or “cosmetics purify the body, and blows the soul” ( Proverbs [ICC], 397). Cf. CEV “can knock all of the evil out of you.”


text: The term “cleanse” does not appear in this line but is supplied in the translation in the light of the parallelism.