Genesis 33:13-14

33:13 But Jacob ¹  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ²  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ³  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die. 33:14 Let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the herds and the children, ⁴  until I come to my lord at Seir.”

Proverbs 12:10

12:10 A righteous person cares for ⁵  the life of his animal,

but even the most compassionate acts ⁶  of the wicked are cruel.

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “weak.”

³ tn Heb “and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me.”

⁴ tn Heb “and I, I will move along according to my leisure at the foot of the property which is before me and at the foot of the children.”

⁵ tn Heb “knows”; NLT “concerned for the welfare of.” The righteous take care of animals, not just people.

⁶ tn Heb “but the mercies.” The additional words appear in the translation for the sake of clarification. The line can be interpreted in two ways: (1) when the wicked exhibit a kind act, they do it in a cruel way, or (2) even the kindest of their acts is cruel by all assessments, e.g., stuffing animals with food to fatten them for market – their “kindness” is driven by ulterior motives (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 129).