Proverbs 10:2

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

but righteousness ²  delivers from mortal danger. ³ 

Proverbs 13:11

13:11 Wealth gained quickly ⁴  will dwindle away, ⁵ 

but the one who gathers it little by little ⁶  will become rich. ⁷ 

Proverbs 20:14

20:14 “It’s worthless! It’s worthless!” ⁸  says the buyer, ⁹ 

but when he goes on his way, he boasts. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 20:21

20:21 An inheritance gained easily ¹¹  in the beginning

will not be blessed ¹²  in the end. ¹³ 

Proverbs 22:8

22:8 The one who sows ¹⁴  iniquity will reap trouble,

and the rod of his fury ¹⁵  will end.

Proverbs 30:8

30:8 Remove falsehood and lies ¹⁶  far from me;

do not give me poverty or riches,

feed me with my allotted portion ¹⁷  of bread, ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 17:11

17:11 The person who gathers wealth by unjust means

is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. ¹⁹ 

Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. ²⁰ 

At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” ²¹ 

Jeremiah 17:1

17:1 ²² The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel

on their stone-hard ²³  hearts.

It is inscribed with a diamond ²⁴  point

on the horns of their altars. ²⁵ 

Jeremiah 6:9-10

6:9 This is what the Lord who rules over all ²⁶  said to me: ²⁷ 

“Those who remain in Israel will be

like the grapes thoroughly gleaned ²⁸  from a vine.

So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester

passing your hand over the branches one last time.” ²⁹ 

6:10 I answered, ³⁰ 

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them? ³¹ 

Their ears are so closed ³² 

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, ³³  what the Lord says is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all. ³⁴ 

Titus 1:11

1:11 who must be silenced because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught.

Titus 1:2

1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began. ³⁵ 

Titus 2:3

2:3 Older women likewise are to exhibit behavior fitting for those who are holy, not slandering, not slaves to excessive drinking, but teaching what is good.

[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.

[13:11]  ⁴ tc The MT reads מֵהֵבֶל (mehevel, “from vanity”). The Greek and Latin versions (followed by RSV) reflect מְבֹהָל (mÿvohal, “in haste”) which exhibits metathesis. MT is the more difficult reading and therefore preferred. The alternate reading fits the parallelism better, but is therefore a less difficult reading.

[13:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “will become small.” The verb מָעָט (ma’at) means “to become small; to become diminished; to become few.” Money gained without work will diminish quickly, because it was come by too easily. The verb forms a precise contrast with רָבָה (ravah), “to become much; to become many,” but in the Hiphil, “to multiply; to make much many; to cause increase.”

[13:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “by hand”; cf. KJV, ASV, NASB “by labor.”

[13:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “will increase.”

[20:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “[It is] bad, [it is] bad.” Since “bad” can be understood in some modern contexts as a descriptive adjective meaning “good,” the translation uses “worthless” instead – the real point of the prospective buyer’s exclamation.

[20:14]  ⁹ sn This proverb reflects standard procedure in the business world. When negotiating the transaction the buyer complains how bad the deal is for him, or how worthless the prospective purchase, but then later brags about what a good deal he got. The proverb will alert the inexperienced as to how things are done.

[20:14]  ¹⁰ tn The Hitpael imperfect of הָלַל (halal) means “to praise” – to talk in glowing terms, excitedly. In this stem it means “to praise oneself; to boast.”

[20:21]  ¹¹ tc The Kethib reads מְבֻחֶלֶת (mÿbukhelet), “gotten by greed” (based on a cognate Syriac verb, “to be greedy”); but the Qere is מְבֹהֶלֶת (mÿvohelet), “gotten hastily [or, quickly].” A large number of mss and the ancient versions read with the Qere (cf. KJV, ASV “gotten hastily”; NAB “gained hastily”; NIV “quickly gained”; NRSV “quickly acquired”).

[20:21]  ¹² tn The form is the Pual imperfect, “will not be blessed,” suggesting that divine justice is at work.

[20:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “in its end”; KJV, ASV “the end thereof.”

[22:8]  ¹⁴ sn The verse is making an implied comparison (a figure of speech known as hypocatastasis) between sowing and sinning. One who sins is like one who sows, for there will be a “harvest” or a return on the sin – trouble.

[22:8]  ¹⁵ tc There is a variant reading in the LXX; instead of “the rod of his wrath” it reads “the punishment of his deeds.” C. H. Toy wishes to emend שֵׁבֶט (shevet) to שֶׁבֶר (shever), “the produce of his work” (Proverbs [ICC], 416). But the Hebrew text is not obscure, and שֶׁבֶר does not exactly mean “produce.” The expression “rod of his wrath” may not follow the imagery of 8a very closely, but it is nonetheless understandable. The “rod” is a symbol of power; “wrath” is a metonymy of cause indicating what wrath will do, and an objective genitive. The expression signifies that in reaping trouble for his sins this person will no longer be able to unleash his fury on others. The LXX adds: “A man who is cheerful and a giver God blesses” (e.g., 2 Cor 9:7).

[30:8]  ¹⁶ tn The two words might form a hendiadys: “falsehood and lies” being equivalent to “complete deception.” The word שָׁוְא means “false; empty; vain; to a false purpose.” The second word means “word of lying,” thus “a lying word.” Taken separately they might refer to false intentions and false words.

[30:8]  ¹⁷ tn The word חֹק (khoq) means “statute”; it is also used of a definite assignment in labor (Exod 5:14; Prov 31:15), or of a set portion of food (Gen 47:22). Here it refers to food that is the proper proportion for the speaker.

[30:8]  ¹⁸ sn Agur requested an honest life (not deceitful) and a balanced life (not self-sufficient). The second request about his provision is clarified in v. 9.

[17:11]  ¹⁹ tn The meaning of this line is somewhat uncertain. The word translated “broods over” occurs only here and Isa 34:15. It is often defined on the basis of an Aramaic cognate which means “to gather” with an extended meaning of “to gather together under her to hatch.” Many commentators go back to a Rabbinic explanation that the partridge steals the eggs of other birds and hatches them out only to see the birds depart when they recognize that she is not the mother. Modern studies question the validity of this zoologically. Moreover, W. L. Holladay contests the validity on the basis of the wording “and she does hatch them” (Heb “bring them to birth”). See W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:498, and see also P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 229. The point of the comparison is that the rich gather their wealth but they do not get to see the fruits of it.

[17:11]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text merely says “it.” But the antecedent might be ambiguous in English so the reference to wealth gained by unjust means is here reiterated for clarity.

[17:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “he will be [= prove to be] a fool.”

[17:1]  ²² tn The chapter division which was not a part of the original text but was added in the middle ages obscures the fact that there is no new speech here. The division may have resulted from the faulty identification of the “them” in the preceding verse. See the translator’s note on that verse.

[17:1]  ²³ tn The adjective “stone-hard” is not in the Hebrew text. It is implicit in the metaphor and is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:26; and Job 19:24 for the figure.

[17:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “adamant.” The word “diamond” is an accommodation to modern times. There is no evidence that diamond was known in ancient times. This hard stone (perhaps emery) became metaphorical for hardness; see Ezek 3:9 and Zech 7:12. For discussion see W. E. Staples, “Adamant,” IDB 1:45.

[17:1]  ²⁵ tn This verse has been restructured for the sake of the English poetry: Heb “The sin of Judah is engraved [or written] with an iron pen, inscribed with a point of a diamond [or adamant] upon the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.”

[6:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[6:9]  ²⁷ tn The words “to me” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “They will thoroughly glean those who are left in Israel like a vine.” That is, they will be carried off by judgment. It is not necessary to read the verb forms here as two imperatives or an infinitive absolute followed by an imperative as some English versions and commentaries do. This is an example of a third plural verb used impersonally and translated as a passive (cf. GKC 460 §144.g).

[6:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Pass your hand back over the branches like a grape harvester.” The translation is intended to clarify the metaphor that Jeremiah should try to rescue some from the coming destruction.

[6:10]  ³⁰ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:10]  ³¹ tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”

[6:10]  ³² tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”

[6:10]  ³³ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”

[1:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “before eternal ages.”