13:4 The appetite 1 of the sluggard 2 craves 3 but gets nothing,
but the desire of the diligent will be abundantly satisfied. 4
21:5 The plans of the diligent 5 lead 6 only to plenty, 7
but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. 8
21:1 The king’s heart 9 is in the hand 10 of the Lord like channels of water; 11
he turns it wherever he wants.
1:1 From Paul, 12 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 tn The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally “soul”) has a broad range of meanings, and here denotes “appetite” (e.g., Ps 17:9; Prov 23:3; Eccl 2:24; Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5; BDB 660 s.v. 5.c) or (2) “desire” (e.g., Deut 12:20; Prov 19:8; 21:10; BDB 660 s.v. 6.a).
2 sn The contrast is between the “soul (= appetite) of the sluggard” (נַפְשׁוֹ עָצֵל, nafsho ’atsel) and the “soul (= desire) of the diligent” (נֶפֶשׁ חָרֻצִים, nefesh kharutsim) – what they each long for.
3 tn The Hitpael verb means “to lust after; to crave.” A related verb is used in the Decalogue’s prohibition against coveting (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21).
4 tn Heb “will be made fat” (cf. KJV, NASB); NRSV “is richly supplied.”
5 tn The word “diligent” is an adjective used substantivally. The related verb means “to cut, sharpen, decide”; so the adjective describes one who is “sharp” – one who acts decisively. The word “hasty” has the idea of being pressed or pressured into quick actions. So the text contrasts calculated expeditiousness with unproductive haste. C. H. Toy does not like this contrast, and so proposes changing the latter to “lazy” (Proverbs [ICC], 399), but W. McKane rightly criticizes that as unnecessarily forming a pedestrian antithesis (Proverbs [OTL], 550).
6 tn The term “lead” is supplied in the translation.
7 tn The Hebrew noun translated “plenty” comes from the verb יָתַר (yatar), which means “to remain over.” So the calculated diligence will lead to abundance, prosperity.
8 tn Heb “lack; need; thing needed”; NRSV “to want.”
9 sn “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.
10 sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.
11 tn “Channels of water” (פַּלְגֵי, palge) is an adverbial accusative, functioning as a figure of comparison – “like channels of water.” Cf. NAB “Like a stream”; NIV “watercourse”; NRSV, NLT “a stream of water.”
12 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.