Proverbs 6:11

6:11 and your poverty will come like a robber, ¹ 

and your need like an armed man. ² 

Proverbs 11:15

11:15 The one who puts up security for a stranger ³  will surely have trouble, ⁴ 

but whoever avoids ⁵  shaking hands ⁶  will be secure.

Proverbs 17:18

17:18 The one who lacks wisdom ⁷  strikes hands in pledge, ⁸ 

and puts up financial security ⁹  for his neighbor. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 22:26

22:26 Do not be one who strikes hands in pledge

or who puts up security for debts.

[6:11]  ¹ tn Heb “like a wayfarer” or “like a traveler” (cf. KJV). The LXX has “swiftness like a traveler.” It has also been interpreted as a “highwayman” (cf. NAB) or a “dangerous assailant.” W. McKane suggests “vagrant” (Proverbs [OTL], 324); cf. NASB “vagabond.” Someone traveling swiftly would likely be a robber.

[6:11]  ² tn The Hebrew word for “armed” is probably connected to the word for “shield” and “deliver” (s.v. גָּנַן). G. R. Driver connects it to the Arabic word for “bold; insolent,” interpreting its use here as referring to a beggar or an insolent man (“Studies in the Vocabulary of the Old Testament, IV,” JTS 33 [1933]: 38-47).

[11:15]  ³ sn The “stranger” could refer to a person from another country or culture, as it often does; but it could also refer to an unknown Israelite, with the idea that the individual stands outside the known and respectable community.

[11:15]  ⁴ tn The sentence begins with the Niphal imperfect and the cognate (רַע־יֵרוֹעַ, ra’-yeroa’), stressing that whoever does this “will certainly suffer hurt.” The hurt in this case will be financial responsibility for a bad risk.

[11:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “hates.” The term שֹׂנֵא (shoneh) means “to reject,” and here “to avoid.” The participle is substantival, functioning as the subject of the clause. The next participle, תֹקְעִים (toq’im, “striking hands”), is its object, telling what is hated. The third participle בּוֹטֵחַ (boteakh, “is secure”) functions verbally.

[11:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “striking.” The imagery here is shaking hands to seal a contract. The term “hands” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[17:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “heart”; KJV, ASV “a man void of understanding”; NIV “a man lacking in judgment.”

[17:18]  ⁸ tn The phrase “in pledge” is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:18]  ⁹ tn The line uses the participle עֹרֵב (’orev) with its cognate accusative עֲרֻבָּה (’arubah), “who pledges a pledge.”

[17:18]  ¹⁰ sn It is foolish to pledge security for someone’s loans (e.g., Prov 6:1-5).