Genesis 11:6

11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ¹  they have begun to do this, then ²  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ³ 

Genesis 11:1

The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel

11:1 The whole earth ⁴  had a common language and a common vocabulary. ⁵ 

Genesis 2:16

2:16 Then the Lord God commanded ⁶  the man, “You may freely eat ⁷  fruit ⁸  from every tree of the orchard,

Proverbs 14:16

14:16 A wise person is cautious ⁹  and turns from evil,

but a fool throws off restraint ¹⁰  and is overconfident. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 17:12

17:12 It is better for a person to meet ¹²  a mother bear being robbed of her cubs,

than ¹³  to encounter ¹⁴  a fool in his folly. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 27:3

27:3 A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,

but vexation ¹⁶  by a fool is more burdensome ¹⁷  than the two of them.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

9:3 This is the unfortunate fact ¹⁸  about everything that happens on earth: ¹⁹ 

the same fate awaits ²⁰  everyone.

In addition to this, the hearts of all people ²¹  are full of evil,

and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die. ²² 

Ecclesiastes 10:13

10:13 At the beginning his words ²³  are foolish

and at the end ²⁴  his talk ²⁵  is wicked madness, ²⁶ 

Daniel 3:19-22

3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed ²⁷  toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders ²⁸  to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated. 3:20 He ordered strong ²⁹  soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 3:21 So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, ³⁰  and were thrown into the furnace ³¹  of blazing fire. 3:22 But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted ³²  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed ³³  by the leaping flames. ³⁴ 

[11:6]  ¹ tn Heb “and one lip to all of them.”

[11:6]  ² tn Heb “and now.” The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered “If this…then now.”

[11:6]  ³ tn Heb “all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them.”

[11:1]  ⁴ sn The whole earth. Here “earth” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, “The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9,” BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.

[11:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “one lip and one [set of] words.” The term “lip” is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term “words” refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.

[2:16]  ⁶ sn This is the first time in the Bible that the verb tsavah (צָוָה, “to command”) appears. Whatever the man had to do in the garden, the main focus of the narrative is on keeping God’s commandments. God created humans with the capacity to obey him and then tested them with commands.

[2:16]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verb form probably carries the nuance of permission (“you may eat”) since the man is not being commanded to eat from every tree. The accompanying infinitive absolute adds emphasis: “you may freely eat,” or “you may eat to your heart’s content.”

[2:16]  ⁸ tn The word “fruit” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied as the direct object of the verb “eat.” Presumably the only part of the tree the man would eat would be its fruit (cf. 3:2).

[14:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “fears.” Since the holy name (Yahweh, translated “the Lord”) is not used, it probably does not here mean fear of the Lord, but of the consequences of actions.

[14:16]  ¹⁰ tn The Hitpael of עָבַר (’avar, “to pass over”) means “to pass over the bounds of propriety; to act insolently” (BDB 720 s.v.; cf. ASV “beareth himself insolently”).

[14:16]  ¹¹ tn The verb בָּטַח here denotes self-assurance or overconfidence. Fools are not cautious and do not fear the consequences of their actions.

[17:12]  ¹² tn Heb “Let a man meet” (so NASB); NLT “It is safer to meet.” The infinitive absolute פָּגוֹשׁ (pagosh, “to meet”) functions as a jussive of advice. The bear meeting a man is less dangerous than a fool in his folly. It could be worded as a “better” saying, but that formula is not found here.

[17:12]  ¹³ tn The second colon begins with וְאַל (vÿ’al), “and not.” This negative usually appears with volitives, so the fuller expression of the parallel line would be “and let not a fool in his folly [meet someone].”

[17:12]  ¹⁴ tn The words “to meet” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied by the parallelism and are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:12]  ¹⁵ sn The human, who is supposed to be rational and intelligent, in such folly becomes more dangerous than the beast that in this case acts with good reason. As R. L. Alden comments, “Consider meeting a fool with a knife, or gun, or even behind the wheel of a car” (Proverbs, 134). See also E. Loewenstamm, “Remarks on Proverbs 17:12 and 20:27,” VT 37 (1967): 221-24. For a slightly different nuance cf. TEV “some fool busy with a stupid project.”

[27:3]  ¹⁶ tn The subject matter is the vexation produced by a fool. The term כַּעַס (ca’as) means “vexation” (ASV); provocation” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); “anger” (KJV “wrath”) and usually refers to undeserved treatment. Cf. NLT “the resentment caused by a fool.”

[27:3]  ¹⁷ sn The contrast is made between dealing with the vexation of a fool and physical labor (moving stones and sand). More tiring is the vexation of a fool, for the mental and emotional effort it takes to deal with it is more draining than physical labor. It is, in the sense of this passage, almost unbearable.

[9:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “evil.”

[9:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[9:3]  ²⁰ tn The term “awaits” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.

[9:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “also the heart of the sons of man.” Here “heart” is a collective singular.

[9:3]  ²² tn Heb “and after that [they go] to [the place of] the dead.”

[10:13]  ²³ tn Heb “the words of his mouth.”

[10:13]  ²⁴ sn The terms “beginning” and “end” form a merism, a figure of speech in which two opposites are contrasted to indicate totality (e.g., Deut 6:7; Ps 139:8; Eccl 3:2-8). The words of a fool are madness from “start to finish.”

[10:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “his mouth.”

[10:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “madness of evil.”

[3:19]  ²⁷ tn Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. NLT “his face became distorted with rage”; NAB “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”

[3:19]  ²⁸ tn Aram “he answered and said.”

[3:20]  ²⁹ tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”

[3:21]  ³⁰ sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.

[3:21]  ³¹ tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

[3:22]  ³² tn Aram “caused to go up.”

[3:22]  ³³ tn The Aramaic verb is active.

[3:22]  ³⁴ tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”