2 Samuel 19:24-30

19:24 Now Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, ¹  came down to meet the king. From the day the king had left until the day he safely ²  returned, Mephibosheth ³  had not cared for his feet ⁴  nor trimmed ⁵  his mustache nor washed his clothes.

19:25 When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?” 19:26 He replied, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me! I ⁶  said, ‘Let me get my donkey saddled so that I can ride on it and go with the king,’ for I ⁷  am lame. 19:27 But my servant ⁸  has slandered me ⁹  to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do whatever seems appropriate to you. 19:28 After all, there was no one in the entire house of my grandfather ¹⁰  who did not deserve death from my lord the king. But instead you allowed me to eat at your own table! ¹¹  What further claim do I have to ask ¹²  the king for anything?”

19:29 Then the king replied to him, “Why should you continue speaking like this? You and Ziba will inherit the field together.” 19:30 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him have ¹³  the whole thing! My lord the king has returned safely ¹⁴  to his house!”

Exodus 20:16

20:16 “You shall not give ¹⁵  false testimony ¹⁶  against your neighbor.

Deuteronomy 19:18-19

19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, ¹⁷  19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge ¹⁸  evil from among you.

Psalms 15:3

15:3 He ¹⁹  does not slander, ²⁰ 

or do harm to others, ²¹ 

or insult his neighbor. ²² 

Psalms 101:5

101:5 I will destroy anyone who slanders his neighbor in secret.

I will not tolerate anyone who has a cocky demeanor and an arrogant attitude. ²³ 

Proverbs 1:19

1:19 Such ²⁴  are the ways ²⁵  of all who gain profit unjustly; ²⁶ 

it ²⁷  takes away the life ²⁸  of those who obtain it! ²⁹ 

Proverbs 21:28

21:28 A lying witness ³⁰  will perish, ³¹ 

but the one who reports accurately speaks forever. ³² 

Proverbs 21:1

21:1 The king’s heart ³³  is in the hand ³⁴  of the Lord like channels of water; ³⁵ 

he turns it wherever he wants.

Proverbs 6:9-10

6:9 How long, you sluggard, will you lie there?

When will you rise from your sleep? ³⁶ 

6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to relax, ³⁷ 

Jude 1:11

1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, ³⁸  and because of greed ³⁹  have abandoned themselves ⁴⁰  to ⁴¹  Balaam’s error; hence, ⁴²  they will certainly perish ⁴³  in Korah’s rebellion.

[19:24]  ¹ tn Heb “son.”

[19:24]  ² tn Heb “in peace.” So also in v. 31.

[19:24]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Mephibosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “done his feet.”

[19:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “done.”

[19:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “your servant.”

[19:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “father.”

[19:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and you placed your servant among those who eat at your table.”

[19:28]  ¹² tn Heb “to cry out to.”

[19:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “take.”

[19:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in peace.”

[20:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “answer” as in a court of law.

[20:16]  ¹⁶ tn The expression עֵד שָׁקֶר (’ed shaqer) means “a lying witness” (B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 388). In this verse the noun is an adverbial accusative, “you will not answer as a lying witness.” The prohibition is against perjury. While the precise reference would be to legal proceedings, the law probably had a broader application to lying about other people in general (see Lev 5:1; Hos 4:2).

[19:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his brother” (also in the following verse).

[19:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you will burn out” (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).

[15:3]  ¹⁹ sn Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age.

[15:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he does not slander upon his tongue.” For another example of רָגַל (ragal, “slander”) see 2 Sam 19:28.

[15:3]  ²¹ tn Or “his fellow.”

[15:3]  ²² tn Heb “and he does not lift up an insult against one who is near to him.”

[101:5]  ²³ tn Heb “[one who has] pride of eyes and wideness [i.e., arrogance] of heart, him I will not endure.”

[1:19]  ²⁴ tn The exclamation כֵּן (ken, “so; thus; such”) marks a conclusion (BDB 485 s.v.). It draws a comparison between the destruction of the wicked in v. 18 and the concluding statement in v. 19.

[1:19]  ²⁵ tc The MT reads אָרְחוֹת (’orkhot, “paths; ways” as figure for mode of life): “so are the ways [or, paths] of all who gain profit unjustly.” The BHS editors suggest emending the text to אַחֲרִית (’akharit, “end” as figure for their fate) by simple metathesis between ח (khet) and ר (resh) and by orthographic confusion between י (yod) and ו (vav), both common scribal errors: “so is the fate of all who gain profit unjustly.” The external evidence supports MT, which is also the more difficult reading. It adequately fits the context which uses “way” and “path” imagery throughout 1:10-19.

[1:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “those who unjustly gain unjust gain.” The participle בֹּצֵעַ (boysea’, “those who unjustly gain”) is followed by the cognate accusative of the same root בָּצַע (batsa’, “unjust gain”) to underscore the idea that they gained their wealth through heinous criminal activity.

[1:19]  ²⁷ tn The subject of the verb is the noun בָּצַע (“unjust gain”), which is also the referent of the 3rd person masculine singular suffix on בְּעָלָיו (bÿ’alav, “its owners”). Greed takes away the life of those who live by greed (e.g., 15:27; 26:27). See G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew Text of Proverbs,” Bib 32 (1951): 173-74.

[1:19]  ²⁸ tn The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is used as a metonymy (= soul) of association (= life). The noun נֶפֶשׁ often refers to physical “life” (Exod 21:23; Num 17:3; Judg 5:18; Prov 12:10; BDB 659 s.v. 3.c).

[1:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “its owners.”

[21:28]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a witness of lies,” an attributive genitive.

[21:28]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “will perish” (יֹאבֵד, yo’bed) could mean that the false witness will die, either by the hand of God or by the community. But it also could be taken in the sense that the false testimony will be destroyed. This would mean that “false witness” would be a metonymy of cause – what he says will perish (cf. NCV “will be forgotten”).

[21:28]  ³² tn Heb “but a man who listens speaks forever.” The first part of it may mean (1) a true witness, one who reports what he actually hears. But it may also refer to (2) someone who listens to the false testimony given by the false witness. The NIV follows the suggestion of a homonym for the Hebrew word with the meaning “will perish/be destroyed”: “will be destroyed forever.” This suggests a synonymous pair of ideas rather than a contrast. Others accept antithetical parallelism. C. H. Toy suggested an idea like “be established” to contrast with “will perish” (Proverbs [ICC], 411). W. McKane suggested it meant the truthful witness “will speak to the end” without being put down (Proverbs [OTL], 556). It is simpler to interpret the words that are here in the sense of a contrast. The idea of speaking forever/to the end would then be hyperbolic.

[21:1]  ³³ sn “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.

[21:1]  ³⁴ sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.

[21:1]  ³⁵ 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.”

[6:9]  ³⁶ sn The use of the two rhetorical questions is designed to rebuke the lazy person in a forceful manner. The sluggard is spending too much time sleeping.

[6:10]  ³⁷ sn The writer might in this verse be imitating the words of the sluggard who just wants to take “a little nap.” The use is ironic, for by indulging in this little rest the lazy one comes to ruin.

[1:11]  ³⁸ tn Or “they have gone the way of Cain.”

[1:11]  ³⁹ tn Grk “for wages.”

[1:11]  ⁴⁰ tn The verb ἐκχέω (ekcew) normally means “pour out.” Here, in the passive, it occasionally has a reflexive idea, as BDAG 312 s.v. 3. suggests (with extra-biblical examples).

[1:11]  ⁴¹ tn Or “in.”

[1:11]  ⁴² tn Grk “and.” See note on “perish” later in this verse.

[1:11]  ⁴³ tn The three verbs in this verse are all aorist indicative (“have gone down,” “have abandoned,” “have perished”). Although the first and second could be considered constative or ingressive, the last is almost surely proleptic (referring to the certainty of their future judgment). Although it may seem odd that a proleptic aorist is so casually connected to other aorists with a different syntactical force, it is not unparalleled (cf. Rom 8:30).