Ezekiel 18:10

18:10 “Suppose such a man has ¹  a violent son who sheds blood and does any of these things ²  mentioned previously

Proverbs 17:21

17:21 Whoever brings a fool ³  into the world ⁴  does so ⁵  to his grief,

and the father of a fool has no joy. ⁶ 

Proverbs 23:24

23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; ⁷ 

whoever fathers a wise child ⁸  will have joy in him.

[18:10]  ¹ tn Heb “begets.”

[18:10]  ² tn Heb “and he does, a brother, from one of these.” If “brother” is retained, it may be an adverbial accusative, “against a brother” (i.e., fellow Israelite). But the form is likely dittographic (note the אח [aleph-heth] combination in the following form).

[17:21]  ³ sn Here the Hebrew terms כְּסִיל (kÿsil) and נָבָל (naval) are paired. The first one, which occurs about fifty times in the book, refers to a dullard, whether it be in spiritual, intellectual, or moral matters. The second word, rare in the book, primarily focuses on religious folly – it refers to the practical atheist, the one who lives as if there is no God.

[17:21]  ⁴ tn The form simply means “bears” or “gives birth to,” but since it is masculine it could be rendered “fathers” (cf. NASB “he who begets a fool”; NIV “To have a fool for a son”). The form for “fool” is masculine, but the proverb is not limited only to male children (cf. NCV “It is sad to have a foolish child”).

[17:21]  ⁵ tn The phrase “does so” is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:21]  ⁶ sn Parents of fools, who had hoped for children who would be a credit to the family, find only bitter disappointment (cf. TEV “nothing but sadness and sorrow”).

[23:24]  ⁷ tc The Qere reading has the imperfect יָגִיל (yagil) with the cognate accusative גִּיל (gil) which intensifies the meaning and the specific future of this verb.

[23:24]  ⁸ tn The term “child” is supplied for the masculine singular adjective here.