2 Chronicles 35:21

35:21 Necho ¹  sent messengers to him, saying, “Why are you opposing me, O king of Judah? ²  I am not attacking you today, but the kingdom with which I am at war. ³  God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, or else he will destroy you.” ⁴ 

Proverbs 18:6

18:6 The lips of a fool ⁵  enter into strife, ⁶ 

and his mouth invites ⁷  a flogging. ⁸ 

Proverbs 20:3

20:3 It is an honor for a person ⁹  to cease ¹⁰  from strife,

but every fool quarrels. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 26:17

26:17 Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears, ¹² 

so is the person passing by who becomes furious ¹³  over a quarrel not his own.

Luke 14:31

14:31 Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down ¹⁴  first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose ¹⁵  the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

[35:21]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Neco) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[35:21]  ² tn Heb “What to me and to you, king of Judah?”

[35:21]  ³ tn Heb “Not against you, you, today, but against the house of my battle.”

[35:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “Stop yourself from [opposing] God who is with me and let him not destroy you.”

[18:6]  ⁵ sn The “lips” is a metonymy of cause, meaning what the fool says. The “mouth” in the second colon is likewise a metonymy for speech, what comes out of the mouth.

[18:6]  ⁶ sn “Strife” is a metonymy of cause, it is the cause of the beating or flogging that follows; “flogging” in the second colon is a metonymy of effect, the flogging is the effect of the strife. The two together give the whole picture.

[18:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “calls for.” This is personification: What the fool says “calls for” a beating or flogging. The fool deserves punishment, but does not actually request it.

[18:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “blows.” This would probably be physical beatings, either administered by the father or by society (e.g., also 19:25; Ps 141:5; cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT). Today, however, “a beating” could be associated with violent criminal assault, whereas the context suggests punishment. Therefore “a flogging” is used in the translation, since that term is normally associated with disciplinary action.

[20:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “man.”

[20:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “cessation” (שֶׁבֶת, shevet); NAB “to shun strife”; NRSV “refrain from strife.”

[20:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “breaks out.” The Hitpael of the verb גָּלַע (gala’, “to expose; to lay bare”) means “to break out; to disclose oneself,” and so the idea of flaring up in a quarrel is clear. But there are also cognate connections to the idea of “showing the teeth; snarling” and so quarreling viciously.

[26:17]  ¹² tn Heb “grabs the ears of a dog. The word “wild” has been supplied in the translation to make clear that these were not domesticated pets. CEV, to accomplish the same point, has “a mad dog,” but there is no indication of that in context.

[26:17]  ¹³ tn The word מִתְעַבֵּר (mit’abber) means “to put oneself in a fury” or “become furious” (BDB 720 s.v.). The Latin version apparently assumed the verb was עָרַב (’arav), for it has the sense of “meddle” (so also NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). However, the MT reading could easily fit the verse, referring to anyone passing by who gets furious over a fight that is not his.

[14:31]  ¹⁴ tn The participle καθίσας (kaqisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[14:31]  ¹⁵ tn On the meaning of this verb see also L&N 55.3, “to meet in battle, to face in battle.”