Deuteronomy 9:14

9:14 Stand aside ¹  and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, ²  and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”

Proverbs 10:7

10:7 The memory ³  of the righteous is a blessing,

but the reputation ⁴  of the wicked will rot. ⁵ 

Proverbs 13:9

13:9 The light ⁶  of the righteous shines brightly, ⁷ 

but the lamp ⁸  of the wicked goes out. ⁹ 

[9:14]  ¹ tn Heb “leave me alone.”

[9:14]  ² tn Heb “from under heaven.”

[10:7]  ³ sn “Memory” (זֵכֶר, zekher) and “name” are often paired as synonyms. “Memory” in this sense has to do with reputation, fame. One’s reputation will be good or bad by righteousness or wickedness respectively.

[10:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “name.” The term “name” often functions as a metonymy of association for reputation (BDB 1028 s.v. שֵׁם 2.b).

[10:7]  ⁵ tn The editors of BHS suggest a reading “will be cursed” to make a better parallelism, but the reading of the MT is more striking as a metaphor.

[13:9]  ⁶ sn The images of “light” and “darkness” are used frequently in scripture. Here “light” is an implied comparison: “light” represents life, joy, and prosperity; “darkness” signifies adversity and death. So the “light of the righteous” represents the prosperous life of the righteous.

[13:9]  ⁷ tn The verb יִשְׂמָח (yismah) is normally translated “to make glad; to rejoice.” But with “light” as the subject, it has the connotation “to shine brightly” (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew Text of Proverbs,” Bib 32 [1951]: 180).

[13:9]  ⁸ sn The lamp is an implied comparison as well, comparing the life of the wicked to a lamp that is going to be extinguished.

[13:9]  ⁹ tc The LXX adds, “Deceitful souls go astray in sins, but the righteous are pitiful and merciful.”