Proverbs 12:10

12:10 A righteous person cares for ¹  the life of his animal,

but even the most compassionate acts ²  of the wicked are cruel.

Proverbs 12:16

12:16 A fool’s annoyance ³  is known at once, ⁴ 

but the prudent ⁵  overlooks ⁶  an insult.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

9:3 This is the unfortunate fact ⁷  about everything that happens on earth: ⁸ 

the same fate awaits ⁹  everyone.

In addition to this, the hearts of all people ¹⁰  are full of evil,

and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die. ¹¹ 

[12:10]  ¹ tn Heb “knows”; NLT “concerned for the welfare of.” The righteous take care of animals, not just people.

[12:10]  ² tn Heb “but the mercies.” The additional words appear in the translation for the sake of clarification. The line can be interpreted in two ways: (1) when the wicked exhibit a kind act, they do it in a cruel way, or (2) even the kindest of their acts is cruel by all assessments, e.g., stuffing animals with food to fatten them for market – their “kindness” is driven by ulterior motives (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 129).

[12:16]  ³ tn Heb “The fool, at once his vexation is known.” This rhetorically emphatic construction uses an independent nominative absolute, which is then followed by the formal subject with a suffix. The construction focuses attention on “the fool,” then states what is to be said about him.

[12:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “on the day” or “the same day.”

[12:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “shrewd.”

[12:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “covers.” The verb כָּסָה (casah) means “covers” in the sense of ignores or bides his time. The point is not that he does not respond at all, but that he is shrewd enough to handle the criticism or insult in the best way – not instinctively and irrationally.

[9:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “evil.”

[9:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “under the sun.”

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

[9:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “also the heart of the sons of man.” Here “heart” is a collective singular.

[9:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and after that [they go] to [the place of] the dead.”