Proverbs 10:2

10:2 Treasures gained by wickedness ¹  do not profit,

but righteousness ²  delivers from mortal danger. ³ 

Proverbs 11:4

11:4 Wealth does not profit in the day of wrath, ⁴ 

but righteousness delivers from mortal danger. ⁵ 

Isaiah 23:1-7

The Lord Will Judge Tyre

23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:

Wail, you large ships, ⁶ 

for the port is too devastated to enter! ⁷ 

From the land of Cyprus ⁸  this news is announced to them.

23:2 Lament, ⁹  you residents of the coast,

you merchants of Sidon ¹⁰  who travel over the sea,

whose agents sail over 23:3 the deep waters! ¹¹ 

Grain from the Shihor region, ¹² 

crops grown near the Nile ¹³  she receives; ¹⁴ 

she is the trade center ¹⁵  of the nations.

23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,

for the sea ¹⁶  says this, O fortress of the sea:

“I have not gone into labor

or given birth;

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.” ¹⁷ 

23:5 When the news reaches Egypt,

they will be shaken by what has happened to Tyre. ¹⁸ 

23:6 Travel to Tarshish!

Wail, you residents of the coast!

23:7 Is this really your boisterous city ¹⁹ 

whose origins are in the distant past, ²⁰ 

and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

Ezekiel 28:16

28:16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, ²¹  and you sinned;

so I defiled you and banished you ²²  from the mountain of God –

the guardian cherub expelled you ²³  from the midst of the stones of fire.

Joel 3:8

3:8 I will sell your sons and daughters to ²⁴  the people of Judah. ²⁵ 

They will sell them to the Sabeans, ²⁶  a nation far away.

Indeed, the Lord has spoken!

[10:2]  ¹ tn Heb “treasures of wickedness” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “Ill-gotten gains”; TEV “Wealth that you get by dishonesty.”

[10:2]  ² sn The term “righteousness” here means honesty (cf. TEV). Wealth has limited value even if gained honestly; but honesty delivers from mortal danger.

[10:2]  ³ tn Heb “death.” This could refer to literal death, but it is probably figurative here for mortal danger or ruin.

[11:4]  ⁴ sn The “day of wrath” refers to divine punishment in this life (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 67; e.g., also Job 21:30; Ezek 7:19; Zeph 1:18). Righteousness and not wealth is more valuable in anticipating judgment.

[11:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “from death.”

[23:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

[23:1]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for it is destroyed, from a house, from entering.” The translation assumes that the mem (מ) on בַּיִת (bayit) was originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. This assumption allows one to take בַּיִת as the subject of the preceding verb. It is used in a metaphorical sense for the port city of Tyre. The preposition min (מִן) prefixed to בּוֹא (bo’) indicates negative consequence: “so that no one can enter.” See BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b.

[23:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “the Kittim,” a designation for the people of Cyprus. See HALOT 504-05 s.v. כִּתִּיִּים.

[23:2]  ⁹ tn Or “keep quiet”; NAB “Silence!”

[23:2]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[23:3]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text (23:2b-3a) reads literally, “merchant of Sidon, the one who crosses the sea, they filled you, and on the deep waters.” Instead of מִלְאוּךְ (mil’ukh, “they filled you”) the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads מלאכיך (“your messengers”). The translation assumes an emendation of מִלְאוּךְ to מַלְאָכָו (mal’akhav, “his messengers”), taking the vav (ו) on וּבְמַיִם (uvÿmayim) as improperly placed; instead it should be the final letter of the preceding word.

[23:3]  ¹² tn Heb “seed of Shihor.” “Shihor” probably refers to the east branch of the Nile. See Jer 2:18 and BDB 1009 s.v. שִׁיחוֹר.

[23:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the harvest of the Nile.”

[23:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[is] her revenue.”

[23:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “merchandise”; KJV, ASV “a mart of nations”; NLT “the merchandise mart of the world.”

[23:4]  ¹⁶ tn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:430-31) sees here a reference to Yam, the Canaanite god of the sea. He interprets the phrase מָעוֹז הַיָּם (ma’oz hayyam, “fortress of the sea”) as a title of Yam, translating “Mighty One of the Sea.” A more traditional view is that the phrase refers to Sidon.

[23:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “virgins” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

[23:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they will be in pain at the report of Tyre.”

[23:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Is this to you, boisterous one?” The pronoun “you” is masculine plural, like the imperatives in v. 6, so it is likely addressed to the Egyptians and residents of the coast. “Boisterous one” is a feminine singular form, probably referring to the personified city of Tyre.

[23:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the days of antiquity [is] her beginning.”

[28:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”

[28:16]  ²² tn Heb “I defiled you.” The presence of the preposition “from” following the verb indicates that a verb of motion is implied as well. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[28:16]  ²³ tn Heb “and I expelled you, O guardian cherub.” The Hebrew text takes the verb as first person and understands “guardian cherub” as a vocative, in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the verb. However, if the emendation in verse 14a is accepted (see the note above), then one may follow the LXX here as well and emend the verb to a third person perfect. In this case the subject of the verb is the guardian cherub. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[3:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “into the hand of.”

[3:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the sons of Judah.”

[3:8]  ²⁶ sn The Sabeans were Arabian merchants who were influential along the ancient caravan routes that traveled through Arabia. See also Job 1:15; Isa 43:3; 45:14; Ps 72:10.