Genesis 26:29

26:29 so that ¹  you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed ²  you, but have always treated you well ³  before sending you away ⁴  in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” ⁵ 

Jude 1:2

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ⁶ 

Ruth 3:10

3:10 He said, “May you be rewarded ⁷  by the Lord, my dear! ⁸  This act of devotion ⁹  is greater than what you did before. ¹⁰  For you have not sought to marry ¹¹  one of the young men, whether rich or poor. ¹² 

Psalms 115:15

115:15 May you be blessed by the Lord,

the creator ¹³  of heaven and earth!

Proverbs 17:8

17:8 A bribe works like ¹⁴  a charm ¹⁵  for the one who offers it; ¹⁶ 

in whatever he does ¹⁷  he succeeds. ¹⁸ 

Proverbs 18:16

18:16 A person’s gift ¹⁹  makes room for him,

and leads him ²⁰  before important people.

[26:29]  ¹ tn The oath formula is used: “if you do us harm” means “so that you will not do.”

[26:29]  ² tn Heb “touched.”

[26:29]  ³ tn Heb “and just as we have done only good with you.”

[26:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “and we sent you away.”

[26:29]  ⁵ tn The Philistine leaders are making an observation, not pronouncing a blessing, so the translation reads “you are blessed” rather than “may you be blessed” (cf. NAB).

[1:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

[3:10]  ⁷ tn Or “blessed” (so NASB, NRSV).

[3:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “my daughter.” This form of address is a mild form of endearment, perhaps merely rhetorical. A few English versions omit it entirely (e.g., TEV, CEV). The same expression occurs in v. 11.

[3:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “latter [act of] devotion”; NRSV “this last instance of your loyalty.”

[3:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you have made the latter act of devotion better than the former”; NIV “than that which you showed earlier.”

[3:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “by not going after the young men” (NASB similar); TEV “You might have gone looking for a young man.”

[3:10]  ¹² tn Heb “whether poor or rich” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); the more common English idiom reverses the order (“rich or poor”; cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[115:15]  ¹³ tn Or “maker.”

[17:8]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the eyes of its owner.”

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

[17:8]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.