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Text -- Proverbs 21:1-19 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord like channels of water ; he turns it wherever he wants .
21:2 All of a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion , but the Lord evaluates the motives .
21:3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice .
21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart – the agricultural product of the wicked is sin .
21:5 The plans of the diligent lead only to plenty , but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty .
21:6 Making a fortune by a lying tongue is like a vapor driven back and forth ; they seek death .
21:7 The violence done by the wicked will drag them away because they refuse to do what is right .
21:8 The way of the guilty person is devious , but as for the pure , his way is upright .
21:9 It is better to live on a corner of the housetop than in a house in company with a quarrelsome wife .
21:10 The appetite of the wicked desires evil ; his neighbor is shown no favor in his eyes .
21:11 When a scorner is punished , the naive becomes wise ; when a wise person is instructed, he gains knowledge .
21:12 The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked ; he overthrows the wicked to their ruin .
21:13 The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor , he too will cry out and will not be answered .
21:14 A gift given in secret subdues anger , and a bribe given secretly subdues strong wrath .
21:15 Doing justice brings joy to the righteous and terror to those who do evil .
21:16 The one who wanders from the way of wisdom will end up in the company of the departed .
21:17 The one who loves pleasure will be a poor person ; whoever loves wine and anointing oil will not be rich .
21:18 The wicked become a ransom for the righteous , and the faithless are taken in the place of the upright .
21:19 It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and easily-provoked woman .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Pro 21:1; Pro 21:1; Pro 21:1; Pro 21:1; Pro 21:2; Pro 21:2; Pro 21:2; Pro 21:3; Pro 21:3; Pro 21:4; Pro 21:5; Pro 21:5; Pro 21:5; Pro 21:5; Pro 21:6; Pro 21:6; Pro 21:6; Pro 21:6; Pro 21:7; Pro 21:7; Pro 21:7; Pro 21:7; Pro 21:8; Pro 21:8; Pro 21:8; Pro 21:9; Pro 21:9; Pro 21:9; Pro 21:9; Pro 21:10; Pro 21:10; Pro 21:10; Pro 21:11; Pro 21:11; Pro 21:12; Pro 21:12; Pro 21:12; Pro 21:12; Pro 21:13; Pro 21:13; Pro 21:13; Pro 21:14; Pro 21:14; Pro 21:14; Pro 21:14; Pro 21:14; Pro 21:15; Pro 21:15; Pro 21:15; Pro 21:16; Pro 21:16; Pro 21:16; Pro 21:16; Pro 21:17; Pro 21:17; Pro 21:17; Pro 21:17; Pro 21:17; Pro 21:18; Pro 21:18; Pro 21:18; Pro 21:18; Pro 21:19; Pro 21:19; Pro 21:19
NET Notes: Pro 21:1 The farmer channels irrigation ditches where he wants them, where they will do the most good; so does the Lord with the king. No king is supreme; the ...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:2 Heb “the hearts.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is used as a metonymy of association for thoughts and motives ...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:3 The Lord prefers righteousness above religious service (e.g., Prov 15:8; 21:29; 1 Sam 15:22; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:11-17). This is not a rejection of ritua...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:4 Heb “the tillage [נִר, nir] of the wicked is sin” (so NAB). The subject picks up the subjects of the first half of the v...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:6 The Hebrew has “seekers of death,” meaning “[they that seek them] are seekers of death,” or that the fortune is “a fleet...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:8 If this translation stands, then the construction is formed with an independent nominative absolute, resumed by the suffixed noun as the formal subjec...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:9 Heb “a wife of contentions”; KJV “a brawling woman”; TEV, CEV “a nagging wife.” The Greek version has no reference...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:10 The form יֻחַן (yukhan) is a Hophal imperfect from חָנַן (khanan); it means “to be s...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:11 Heb “in the instructing of the wise.” The construction uses the Hiphil infinitive construct הַשְׂכ...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:13 The proverb is teaching that those who show mercy will receive mercy. It involves the principle of talionic justice – those who refuse the needs...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:14 The LXX offers a moralizing translation not too closely tied to the MT: “he who withholds a gift stirs up violent wrath.”
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NET Notes: Pro 21:15 The noun means “terror (NAB, NASB, NIV), destruction (KJV, ASV), ruin (cf. NCV).” Its related verb means “be shattered, dismayed....
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NET Notes: Pro 21:16 The departed are the Shades (the Rephaim). The literal expression “will rest among the Shades” means “will be numbered among the dea...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:17 In elaborate feasts and celebrations the wine was for drinking but the oil was for anointing (cf. NAB, NCV “perfume”). Both of these chara...
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NET Notes: Pro 21:18 The phrase “are taken” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
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