37:21 Evil men borrow, but do not repay their debt,
but the godly show compassion and are generous. 2
37:26 All day long he shows compassion and lends to others, 3
and his children 4 are blessed.
112:5 It goes well for the one 5 who generously lends money,
and conducts his business honestly. 6
22:7 The rich rule over 7 the poor,
and the borrower is servant 8 to the lender.
1 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
2 tn Heb “an evil [man] borrows and does not repay; but a godly [man] is gracious and gives.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The three active participles and one imperfect (“repay”) draw attention to the characteristic behavior of the two types.
3 tn The active participles describe characteristic behavior.
4 tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
5 tn Heb “man.”
6 tn Heb “he sustains his matters with justice.”
7 sn The proverb is making an observation on life. The synonymous parallelism matches “rule over” with “servant” to show how poverty makes people dependent on, or obligated to, others.
8 tn Or “slave” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, CEV). This may refer to the practice in Israel of people selling themselves into slavery to pay off debts (Exod 21:2-7).
9 tn Or “in return.”
10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the outcome or result. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation at this point.
11 sn The character of these actions reflects the grace and kindness of God, bearing witness to a “line of descent” or relationship of the individual to God (sons of the Most High). There is to be a unique kind of ethic at work with disciples. Jesus refers specifically to sons here because in the ancient world sons had special privileges which were rarely accorded to daughters. However, Jesus is most likely addressing both men and women in this context, so women too would receive these same privileges.
12 sn That is, “sons of God.”
13 tn Or “to the ungrateful and immoral.” The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.