Proverbs 10:12

10:12 Hatred ¹  stirs up dissension,

but love covers all transgressions. ² 

Proverbs 16:23

16:23 A wise person’s heart ³  makes his speech wise ⁴ 

and it adds persuasiveness ⁵  to his words. ⁶ 

Proverbs 16:27

16:27 A wicked scoundrel ⁷  digs up ⁸  evil,

and his slander ⁹  is like a scorching fire. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 19:3

19:3 A person’s folly ¹¹  subverts ¹²  his way,

and ¹³  his heart rages ¹⁴  against the Lord.

Proverbs 24:30

24:30 I passed by the field of a sluggard,

by the vineyard of one who lacks wisdom. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 28:21

28:21 To show partiality ¹⁶  is terrible, ¹⁷ 

for a person will transgress over the smallest piece of bread. ¹⁸ 

[10:12]  ¹ sn This contrasts the wicked motivated by hatred (animosity, rejection) with the righteous motivated by love (kind acts, showing favor).

[10:12]  ² sn Love acts like forgiveness. Hatred looks for and exaggerates faults; but love seeks ways to make sins disappear (e.g., 1 Pet 4:8).

[16:23]  ³ tn Or “mind” (cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[16:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “makes wise his mouth,” with “mouth” being a metonymy of cause for what is said: “speech.”

[16:23]  ⁵ sn Those who are wise say wise things. The proverb uses synthetic parallelism: The first line asserts that the wise heart ensures that what is said is wise, and the second line adds that such a person increases the reception of what is said.

[16:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “to his lips.” The term “lips” functions as a metonymy of cause for what is said.

[16:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “a man of belial.” This phrase means “wicked scoundrel.” Some translate “worthless” (so ASV, NASB, CEV), but the phrase includes deep depravity and wickedness (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 125-26).

[16:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “digs up” (so NASB). The “wicked scoundrel” finds out about evil and brings it to the surface (Prov 26:27; Jer 18:20). What he digs up he spreads by speech.

[16:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “on his lips” (so NAB) The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause. To say that “evil” is on his lips means that he talks about the evil he has dug up.

[16:27]  ⁸ sn The simile stresses the devastating way that slander hurts people. W. McKane says that this one “digs for scandal and…propagates it with words which are ablaze with misanthropy” (Proverbs [OTL], 494).

[19:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the folly of a man.”

[19:3]  ⁸ tn The verb סָלַף (salaf) normally means “to twist; to pervert; to overturn,” but in this context it means “to subvert” (BDB 701 s.v.); cf. ASV “subverteth.”

[19:3]  ⁹ tn The clause begins with vav on the nonverb phrase “against the Lord.” While clause structure and word order is less compelling in a book like Proverbs, this fits well as a circumstantial clause indicating concession.

[19:3]  ¹⁰ sn The “heart raging” is a metonymy of cause (or adjunct); it represents the emotions that will lead to blaming God for the frustration. Genesis 42:28 offers a calmer illustration of this as the brothers ask what God was doing to them.

[24:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “lacks heart”; KJV “understanding”; NAB, NASB, NLT “sense.”

[28:21]  ¹¹ tn The construction uses the Hiphil infinitive הַכֵּר (hakken) as the subject of the sentence: “to have respect for [or, recognize] persons is not good” (e.g., 24:23; 18:5; Deut 1:17; Lev 19:15). Such favoritism is “not good”; instead, it is a miscarriage of justice and is to be avoided.

[28:21]  ¹² tn Heb “not good.” This is a figure of speech known as tapeinosis – a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario: “it is terrible!”

[28:21]  ¹³ tn The meaning and connection of the line is not readily clear. It could be taken in one of two ways: (1) a person can steal even a small piece of bread if hungry, and so the court should show some compassion, or it should show no partiality even in such a pathetic case; (2) a person could be bribed for a very small price (a small piece of bread being the figure representing this). This second view harmonizes best with the law.