14:23 In all hard work 1 there is profit,
but merely talking about it 2 only brings 3 poverty. 4
24:4 by knowledge its rooms are filled
with all kinds of precious and pleasing treasures.
3:9 Your bow is ready for action; 5
you commission your arrows. 6 Selah.
You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. 7
1 sn The Hebrew term עֶצֶב (’etsev, “painful toil; labor”) is first used in scripture in Gen 3:19 to describe the effects of the Fall. The point here is that people should be more afraid of idle talk than of hard labor.
2 tn Heb “word of lips.” This construct phrase features a genitive of source (“a word from the lips”) or a subjective genitive (“speaking a word”). Talk without work (which produces nothing) is contrasted with labor that produces something.
3 tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
4 sn The noun מַחְסוֹר (makhsor, “need; thing needed; poverty”) comes from the verb “to lack; to be lacking; to decrease; to need.” A person given to idle talk rather than industrious work will have needs that go unmet.
5 tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”
6 tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the
7 tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.