Proverbs 15:27

15:27 The one who is greedy for gain ¹  troubles ²  his household, ³ 

but whoever hates bribes ⁴  will live.

Jeremiah 7:11

7:11 Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ⁵  is to be a hideout for robbers? ⁶  You had better take note! ⁷  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

Habakkuk 2:9-12

2:9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. ⁸ 

He does this so he can build his nest way up high

and escape the clutches of disaster. ⁹ 

2:10 Your schemes will bring shame to your house.

Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct. ¹⁰ 

2:11 For the stones in the walls will cry out,

and the wooden rafters will answer back. ¹¹ 

2:12 The one who builds a city by bloodshed is as good as dead ¹²  –

he who starts ¹³  a town by unjust deeds.

Habakkuk 2:2

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ¹⁴ 

“Write down this message! ¹⁵  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ¹⁶  it may read it easily. ¹⁷ 

Habakkuk 1:10

1:10 They mock kings

and laugh at rulers.

They laugh at every fortified city;

they build siege ramps ¹⁸  and capture them.

[15:27]  ¹ tn Heb “the one who gains.” The phrase בּוֹצֵעַ בָּצַע (botseakh batsa’) is a participle followed by its cognate accusative. This refers to a person who is always making the big deal, getting the larger cut, or in a hurry to get rich. The verb, though, makes it clear that the gaining of a profit is by violence and usually unjust, since the root has the idea of “cut off; break off; gain by violence.” The line is contrasted with hating bribes, and so the gain in this line may be through bribery.

[15:27]  ² sn The participle “troubles” (עֹכֵר, ’okher) can have the connotation of making things difficult for the family, or completely ruining the family (cf. NAB). In Josh 7:1 Achan took some of the “banned things” and was put to death: Because he “troubled Israel,” the Lord would “trouble” him (take his life, Josh 7:25).

[15:27]  ³ tn Heb “his house.”

[15:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “gifts” (so KJV). Gifts can be harmless enough, but in a setting like this the idea is that the “gift” is in exchange for some “profit [or, gain].” Therefore they are bribes (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), and to be hated or rejected. Abram, for example, would not take anything that the king of Sodom had to offer, “lest [he] say, “I have made Abram rich” (Gen 14:22-24).

[7:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “over which my name is called.” For this nuance of this idiom cf. BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph.2.d(4) and see the usage in 2 Sam 12:28.

[7:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “Is this house…a den/cave of robbers in your eyes?”

[7:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “Behold!”

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who profits unjustly by evil unjust gain for his house.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “to place his nest in the heights in order to escape from the hand of disaster.”

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you planned shame for your house, cutting off many nations, and sinning [against] your life.”

[2:11]  ¹¹ sn The house mentioned in vv. 9-10 represents the Babylonian empire, which became great through imperialism. Here the materials of this “house” (the stones in the walls, the wooden rafters) are personified as witnesses who testify that the occupants have built the house through wealth stolen from others.

[2:12]  ¹² tn On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:12]  ¹³ tn Or “establishes”; or “founds.”

[2:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.

[1:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they heap up dirt.” This is a reference to the piling up of earthen ramps in the process of laying siege to a fortified city.