1 Kings 20:11

20:11 The king of Israel replied, “Tell him the one who puts on his battle gear should not boast like one who is taking it off.” ¹ 

1 Kings 20:2

20:2 He sent messengers to King Ahab of Israel, who was in the city. ² 

1 Kings 18:20-22

18:20 Ahab sent messengers to all the Israelites and had the prophets assemble at Mount Carmel. 18:21 Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision? ³  If the Lord is the true God, ⁴  then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!” But the people did not say a word. 18:22 Elijah said to them: ⁵  “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but there are 450 prophets of Baal.

Proverbs 20:18

20:18 Plans ⁶  are established by counsel,

so ⁷  make war ⁸  with guidance.

Proverbs 25:8

25:8 Do not go out hastily to litigation, ⁹ 

or ¹⁰  what will you do afterward

when your neighbor puts you to shame?

[20:11]  ¹ sn The point of the saying is that someone who is still preparing for a battle should not boast as if he has already won the battle. A modern parallel would be, “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.”

[20:2]  ² tn Heb “to the city.”

[18:21]  ³ tn Heb “How long are you going to limp around on two crutches?” (see HALOT 762 s.v. סְעִפִּים). In context this idiomatic expression refers to indecision rather than physical disability.

[18:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “the God.”

[18:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “to the people.”

[20:18]  ⁶ tn The noun form is plural, but the verb is singular, suggesting either an abstract plural or a collective plural is being used here.

[20:18]  ⁷ tn The clause begins with vav (ו) on “with guidance.” But the clause has an imperative for its main verb. One could take the imperfect tense in the first colon as an imperfect of injunction, and then this clause would be also instructional. But the imperfect tense is a Niphal, and so it is better to take the first colon as the foundational clause and the second colon as the consequence (cf. NAB): If that is true, then you should do this.

[20:18]  ⁸ sn There have been attempts by various commentators to take “war” figuratively to mean life’s struggles, litigation, or evil inclinations. But there is no need and little justification for such interpretations. The proverb simply describes the necessity of taking counsel before going to war.

[25:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “do not go out hastily to strive”; the verb “to strive” means dispute in the legal context. The last clause of v. 7, “what your eyes have seen,” does fit very well with the initial clause of v. 8. It would then say: What you see, do not take hastily to court, but if the case was not valid, he would end up in disgrace.

[25:8]  ¹⁰ tn The clause begins with פֶּן (pen, “lest”) which seems a bit out of place in this line. C. H. Toy suggests changing it to כִּי (ki, “for”) to make a better connection, instead of supplying an ellipsis: “lest it be said what…” (Proverbs [ICC], 461).