Genesis 14:22-23

14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ¹  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ²  14:23 that I will take nothing ³  belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I ⁴  who made Abram rich.’

Proverbs 17:8

17:8 A bribe works like ⁵  a charm ⁶  for the one who offers it; ⁷ 

in whatever he does ⁸  he succeeds. ⁹ 

Proverbs 18:16

18:16 A person’s gift ¹⁰  makes room for him,

and leads him ¹¹  before important people.

Proverbs 18:24

18:24 A person who has friends ¹²  may be harmed by them, ¹³ 

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 21:14

21:14 A gift given ¹⁴  in secret subdues ¹⁵  anger,

and a bribe given secretly ¹⁶  subdues ¹⁷  strong wrath. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 32:8

32:8 An honorable man makes honorable plans;

his honorable character gives him security. ¹⁹ 

[14:22]  ¹ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

[14:22]  ² tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:23]  ³ tn The oath formula is elliptical, reading simply: “…if I take.” It is as if Abram says, “[May the Lord deal with me] if I take,” meaning, “I will surely not take.” The positive oath would add the negative adverb and be the reverse: “[God will deal with me] if I do not take,” meaning, “I certainly will.”

[14:23]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds the independent pronoun (“I”) to the verb form for emphasis.

[17:8]  ⁵ tn The phrase “works like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[17:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “a stone of favors”; NAB, NRSV “a magic stone.” The term שֹׁחַד (shokhad, “bribe”) could be simply translated as “a gift”; but the second half of the verse says that the one who offers it is successful. At best it could be a gift that opens doors; at worst it is a bribe. The word שֹׁחַד is never used of a disinterested gift, so there is always something of the bribe in it (e.g., Ps 15:5; Isa 1:23). Here it is “a stone that brings favor,” the genitive being the effect or the result of the gift. In other words, it has magical properties and “works like a charm.”

[17:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of its owner.”

[17:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “in all that he turns”; NASB, NIV “wherever he turns.”

[17:8]  ⁹ sn As C. H. Toy points out, the sage is merely affirming a point without making a comment – those who use bribery meet with widespread success (Proverbs [ICC], 341). This does not amount to an endorsement of bribery.

[18:16]  ¹⁰ sn The Hebrew term translated “gift” is a more general term than “bribe” (שֹׁחַד, shokhad), used in 17:8, 23. But it also has danger (e.g., 15:27; 21:14), for by giving gifts one might learn how influential they are and use them for bribes. The proverb simply states that a gift can expedite matters.

[18:16]  ¹¹ sn The two verbs here show a progression, helping to form the synthetic parallelism. The gift first “makes room” (יַרְחִיב, yarkhiv) for the person, that is, extending a place for him, and then “ushers him in” (יַנְחֵנּוּ, yakhenu) among the greats.

[18:24]  ¹² tc The construction is “a man of friends” (cf. NASB) meaning a man who has friends (a genitive of the thing possessed). C. H. Toy, however, suggests reading יֵשׁ (yesh) instead of אִישׁ (’ish), along with some of the Greek mss, the Syriac, and Tg. Prov 18:24. It would then say “there are friends” who are unreliable (Proverbs [ICC], 366); cf. NLT. However, the MT should be retained here.

[18:24]  ¹³ tn The text simply has לְהִתְרֹעֵעַ (lÿhitro’ea’), which means “for being crushed” or “to be shattered” (but not “to show oneself friendly” as in the KJV). What can be made of the sentence is that “a man who has [many] friends [may have them] for being crushed” – the infinitive giving the result (i.e., “with the result that he may be crushed by them”).

[21:14]  ¹⁴ sn The synonymous parallelism joins the more neutral term “gift” with the more specific “bribe.” D. Kidner notes that this underscores how hard it is to tell the difference between them, especially since they accomplish similar things (Proverbs [TOTC], 143).

[21:14]  ¹⁵ tn The word כָּפָה (kafah) occurs only here; it means “to subdue,” but in New Hebrew it means “to overturn; to compel.” The BHS editors suggest a change to כָּבָה (kavah), “to be quenched,” based on Symmachus and Tg. Prov 21:14, but there is no substantial improvement in the text’s meaning with such a change.

[21:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a bribe in the bosom” (so NASB). This refers to a gift hidden in the folds of the garment, i.e., given secretly (cf. NIV “a bribe concealed in the cloak”).

[21:14]  ¹⁷ tn The repetition of the term “subdues” in the second line is supplied in the translation.

[21:14]  ¹⁸ tc The LXX offers a moralizing translation not too closely tied to the MT: “he who withholds a gift stirs up violent wrath.”

[32:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he upon honorable things stands.”