115:15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the creator 13 of heaven and earth!
17:8 A bribe works like 14 a charm 15 for the one who offers it; 16
in whatever he does 17 he succeeds. 18
18:16 A person’s gift 19 makes room for him,
and leads him 20 before important people.
1 tn The oath formula is used: “if you do us harm” means “so that you will not do.”
2 tn Heb “touched.”
3 tn Heb “and just as we have done only good with you.”
4 tn Heb “and we sent you away.”
5 tn The Philistine leaders are making an observation, not pronouncing a blessing, so the translation reads “you are blessed” rather than “may you be blessed” (cf. NAB).
6 tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”
7 tn Or “blessed” (so NASB, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “my daughter.” This form of address is a mild form of endearment, perhaps merely rhetorical. A few English versions omit it entirely (e.g., TEV, CEV). The same expression occurs in v. 11.
9 tn Heb “latter [act of] devotion”; NRSV “this last instance of your loyalty.”
10 tn Heb “you have made the latter act of devotion better than the former”; NIV “than that which you showed earlier.”
11 tn Heb “by not going after the young men” (NASB similar); TEV “You might have gone looking for a young man.”
12 tn Heb “whether poor or rich” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); the more common English idiom reverses the order (“rich or poor”; cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
13 tn Or “maker.”
14 tn The phrase “works like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.
15 tn Heb “a stone of favors”; NAB, NRSV “a magic stone.” The term שֹׁחַד (shokhad, “bribe”) could be simply translated as “a gift”; but the second half of the verse says that the one who offers it is successful. At best it could be a gift that opens doors; at worst it is a bribe. The word שֹׁחַד is never used of a disinterested gift, so there is always something of the bribe in it (e.g., Ps 15:5; Isa 1:23). Here it is “a stone that brings favor,” the genitive being the effect or the result of the gift. In other words, it has magical properties and “works like a charm.”
16 tn Heb “in the eyes of its owner.”
17 tn Heb “in all that he turns”; NASB, NIV “wherever he turns.”
18 sn As C. H. Toy points out, the sage is merely affirming a point without making a comment – those who use bribery meet with widespread success (Proverbs [ICC], 341). This does not amount to an endorsement of bribery.
19 sn The Hebrew term translated “gift” is a more general term than “bribe” (שֹׁחַד, shokhad), used in 17:8, 23. But it also has danger (e.g., 15:27; 21:14), for by giving gifts one might learn how influential they are and use them for bribes. The proverb simply states that a gift can expedite matters.
20 sn The two verbs here show a progression, helping to form the synthetic parallelism. The gift first “makes room” (יַרְחִיב, yarkhiv) for the person, that is, extending a place for him, and then “ushers him in” (יַנְחֵנּוּ, yakhenu) among the greats.