22:13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion 4 outside!
I will be killed in the middle of the streets!” 5
26:13 The sluggard 6 says, “There is a lion in the road!
A lion in the streets!” 7
5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, 8
as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,
then escaped 9 into a house,
leaned his hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a poisonous snake.
5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, 10 family 11 of Israel:
1:1 From Paul, 12 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1:1 From Paul, 13 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1:1 From Paul, 14 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
4:18 I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. 15 Remember my chains. 16 Grace be with you. 17
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the prophet) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “to the city.”
3 tn Heb “house.”
4 sn The proverb humorously describes the sluggard as making ridiculous excuses for not working – he might be eaten by a lion (e.g., 26:13). It is possible that “lion” is figurative, intended to represent someone who is like a lion, but this detracts from the humor of the exaggeration.
5 tc The LXX changes the phrase to read “murderers in the street” to form a better parallelism, possibly because the verb רָצַח (ratsakh) is used only of humans, not wild animals. The NIV attempts to solve the problem by making the second line a separate claim by the sluggard: “or, ‘I will be murdered in the streets!’”
6 sn The Book of Fools covered vv. 1-12. This marks the beginning of what may be called the Book of Sluggards (vv. 13-16).
7 tn Heb “in the broad plazas”; NAB, NASB “in the square.” This proverb makes the same point as 22:13, namely, that the sluggard uses absurd excuses to get out of work. D. Kidner notes that in this situation the sluggard has probably convinced himself that he is a realist and not a lazy person (Proverbs [TOTC], 163).
8 tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
9 tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).
10 tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”
11 tn Heb “house.”
12 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
13 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
14 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
15 tn Grk “the greeting by my hand, of Paul.”
16 tn Or “my imprisonment.”
17 tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (א2 D Ψ 075 0278 Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the external evidence for the omission is quite compelling (א* A B C F G 048 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa). The strongly preferred reading is therefore the omission of ἀμήν.