20:17 When he approached her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” He replied, “I am.” She said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” He said, “Go ahead. I’m listening.” 20:18 She said, “In the past they would always say, ‘Let them inquire in Abel,’ and that is how they settled things. 20:19 I represent the peaceful and the faithful in Israel. You are attempting to destroy an important city 1 in Israel. Why should you swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”
20:20 Joab answered, “Get serious! 2 I don’t want to swallow up or destroy anything! 20:21 That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled 3 against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute 4 his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”
20:22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab 5 blew the trumpet, and his men 6 dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. 7 Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.
9:13 This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, 8
and it is a great burden 9 to me:
9:14 There was once 10 a small city with a few men in it,
and a mighty king attacked it, besieging 11 it and building strong 12 siege works against it.
9:15 However, a poor but wise man lived in the city, 13
and he could have delivered 14 the city by his wisdom,
but no one listened 15 to that poor man.
9:16 So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, 16
but a poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens 17 to his advice. 18
9:17 The words of the wise are heard in quiet,
more than the shouting of a ruler is heard 19 among fools.
9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner can destroy much that is good.
1 tn Heb “a city and a mother.” The expression is a hendiadys, meaning that this city was an important one in Israel and had smaller cities dependent on it.
2 tn Heb “Far be it, far be it from me.” The expression is clearly emphatic, as may be seen in part by the repetition. P. K. McCarter, however, understands it to be coarser than the translation adopted here. He renders it as “I’ll be damned if…” (II Samuel [AB], 426, 429), which (while it is not a literal translation) may not be too far removed from the way a soldier might have expressed himself.
3 tn Heb “lifted his hand.”
4 tn Heb “Look!”
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “his tents.”
8 tn Heb “under the sun.”
9 tn The term “burden” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
10 tn The verbs in this section function either as past definite actions (describing a past situation) or as hypothetical past actions (describing an imaginary hypothetical situation for the sake of illustration). The LXX uses subjunctives throughout vv. 14-15 to depict the scenario as a hypothetical situation: “Suppose there was a little city, and a few men [lived] in it; and there should come against it a great king, and surround it, and build great siege-works against it; and should find in it a poor wise man, and he should save the city through his wisdom; yet no man would remember that poor man.”
11 tn The two perfect tense verbs וְסָבַב (vÿsavav, “he besieged”) and וּבָנָה (uvanah, “he built”) may be taken in a complementary sense, qualifying the action of the main perfect tense verb וּבָא (uva’, “he attacked it”).
12 tn The root גדל (“mighty; strong; large”) is repeated in 9:13b for emphasis: “a mighty (גָדוֹל, gadol) king…building strong (גְדֹלִים, gÿdolim) siege works.” This repetition highlights the contrast between the vast power and resources of the attacking king, and the meager resources of the “little” (קְטַנָּה, qÿtannah) city with “few” (מְעָט, mÿ’at) men in it to defend it.
13 tn Heb “was found in it”; the referent (the city) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 tn Or “he delivered.” The verb וּמִלַּט (umillat, from מָלַט, malat, “to deliver”) is functioning either in an indicative sense (past definite action: “he delivered”) or in a modal sense (past potential: “he could have delivered”). The literal meaning of זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”) in the following line harmonizes with the indicative: “but no one remembered that poor man [afterward].” However, the modal is supported by v. 16: “A poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens to his advice.” This approach must nuance זָכַר (“to remember”) as “[no one] listened to [that poor man].” Most translations favor the indicative approach: “he delivered” or “he saved” (KJV, RSV, NRSV, NAB, ASV, NASB, MLB, NIV); however, some adopt the modal nuance: “he might have saved” (NEB, NJPS, NASB margin).
15 tn Heb “remembered.”
16 tn Or “power.”
17 tn The participle form נִשְׁמָעִים (nishma’im, Niphal participle mpl from שָׁמַע, “to listen”) is used verbally to emphasize a continual, durative, gnomic action.
18 tn Heb “his words are never listened to.”
19 tn The phrase “is heard” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness. Note its appearance in the previous line.