31:1 Then Moses went 3 and spoke these words 4 to all Israel.
15:1 At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation 5 of debts.
36:4 He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed;
he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; 6
he does not reject what is evil. 7
4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm; 8
they are robbed of sleep 9 until they make someone stumble. 10
1 tn Heb “stiffness of neck” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV). See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.
2 tn Heb “How much more after my death?” The Hebrew text has a sarcastic rhetorical question here; the translation seeks to bring out the force of the question.
3 tc For the MT reading וַיֵּלֶךְ (vayyelekh, “he went”), the LXX and Qumran have וַיְכַל (vaykhal, “he finished”): “So Moses finished speaking,” etc. The difficult reading of the MT favors its authenticity.
4 tn In the MT this refers to the words that follow (cf. NIV, NCV).
5 tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּת (shÿmittat), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the cancellation of the debt and even pledges for the debt of a borrower by his creditor. This could be a full and final remission or, more likely, one for the seventh year only. See R. Wakely, NIDOTTE 4:155-60. Here the words “of debts” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Cf. NAB “a relaxation of debts”; NASB, NRSV “a remission of debts.”
6 tn Heb “he takes a stand in a way [that is] not good.” The word “way” here refers metaphorically to behavior or life style.
7 tn The three imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 highlight the characteristic behavior of the typical evildoer.
8 sn The verb is רָעַע (ra’a’), which means “to do evil; to harm.” The verse is using the figure of hyperbole to stress the preoccupation of some people with causing trouble. R. L. Alden says, “How sick to find peace only at the price of another man’s misfortune” (Proverbs, 47).
9 sn Heb “their sleep is robbed/seized”; these expressions are metonymical for their restlessness in plotting evil.
10 sn The Hiphil imperfect (Kethib) means “cause to stumble.” This idiom (from hypocatastasis) means “bring injury/ruin to someone” (BDB 505-6 s.v. כָּשַׁל Hiph.1).