Text -- Proverbs 11:18 (NET)

11:18 The wicked person earns deceitful wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a genuine reward.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Pro 11:18

¹ tn The form is the masculine singular adjective used as a substantive.

² tn Heb “makes” (so NAB).

³ tn Heb “wages of deception.”

sn Whatever recompense or reward the wicked receive will not last, hence, it is deceptive (R. B. Y. Scott, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes [AB], 88).

⁴ sn 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).

⁵ tn The term “reaps” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation from context for the sake of smoothness.

⁶ tn Heb “true” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, NAB, NIV “sure.”

⁷ sn 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.