Proverbs 10:23

10:23 Carrying out a wicked scheme ¹  is enjoyable ²  to a fool,

and so is wisdom for the one who has discernment. ³ 

Proverbs 14:7

14:7 Leave the presence of a foolish person, ⁴ 

or ⁵  you will not understand ⁶  wise counsel. ⁷ 

Proverbs 15:23

15:23 A person has joy ⁸  in giving an appropriate answer, ⁹ 

and a word at the right time ¹⁰  – how good it is!

Proverbs 19:6

19:6 Many people entreat the favor ¹¹  of a generous person, ¹² 

and everyone is the friend ¹³  of the person who gives gifts. ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 20:3

20:3 It is an honor for a person ¹⁵  to cease ¹⁶  from strife,

but every fool quarrels. ¹⁷ 

Proverbs 20:17

20:17 Bread gained by deceit ¹⁸  tastes sweet to a person, ¹⁹ 

but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel. ²⁰ 

Proverbs 22:7

22:7 The rich rule over ²¹  the poor,

and the borrower is servant ²²  to the lender.

[10:23]  ¹ tn Heb “doing a plan.” The noun זִמָּה (zimmah, “plan”) is often used pejoratively of a scheme to do wickedness. It is used elsewhere for planning lewdness, murder, incest, adultery, idolatry, and licentiousness. Any planned gross impropriety gives the fool pleasure. The verb עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) here means “to carry out (a plan)” (BDB 794 s.v.).

[10:23]  ² tn Heb “like sport” (so NASB, NRSV). The noun שְׂחוֹק (sÿkhoq, “sport”) is used elsewhere to refer to what is exhilarating and pleasurable (BDB 966 s.v.). As W. G. Plaut says, it is like child’s play (Proverbs, 132). For the fool evil brings such enjoyment; for the discerning wisdom does.

[10:23]  ³ tn Heb “a man of discernment.”

[14:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “a man, a stupid fellow.”

[14:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “and.” The vav (ו) that introduces this clause may be understood as meaning “or….”

[14:7]  ⁶ tc The MT reads וּבַל־יָדַעְתָּ (uval-yada’ta, “you did not know [the lips of knowledge]).” It must mean that one should leave the fool because he did not receive knowledge from what fools said. Tg. Prov 14:7 freely interprets the verse: “for there is no knowledge on his lips.” The LXX reflects a Hebrew Vorlage of וּכְלֵי־דַעַת (ukhÿle-da’at, “[wise lips] are weapons of discretion”). The textual variant involves wrong word division and orthographic confusion between ב (bet) and כ (kaf). C. H. Toy emends the text: “for his lips do not utter knowledge” as in 15:7 (Proverbs [ICC], 285). The MT is workable and more difficult.

[14:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “lips of knowledge” (so KJV, ASV). “Lips” is the metonymy of cause, and “knowledge” is an objective genitive (speaking knowledge) or attributive genitive (knowledgeable speech): “wise counsel.”

[15:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “joy to the man” or “the man has joy.”

[15:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the answer of his mouth” (so ASV); NASB “in an apt answer.” The term “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what he says. But because the parallelism is loosely synonymous, the answer given here must be equal to the good word spoken in season. So it is an answer that is proper or fitting.

[15:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “in its season.” To say the right thing at the right time is useful; to say the right thing at the wrong time is counterproductive.

[19:6]  ¹⁰ tn The verb יְחַלּוּ (yÿkhalu) is a Piel imperfect of חָלָה (khalah) meaning “to seek favor; to entreat favor; to mollify; to appease”; cf. NIV “curry favor.” It literally means “making the face of someone sweet or pleasant,” as in stroking the face. To “entreat the favor” of someone is to induce him to show favor; the action aims at receiving gifts, benefits, or any other kind of success.

[19:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the face of a generous man”; ASV “the liberal man.” The term “face” is a synecdoche of part (= face) for the whole (= person).

[19:6]  ¹² sn The proverb acknowledges the fact of life; but it also reminds people of the value of gifts in life, especially in business or in politics.

[19:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “a man of gifts.” This could be (1) attributive genitive: a man characterized by giving gifts or (2) objective genitive: a man who gives gifts (IBHS 146 §9.5.2b).

[20:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “man.”

[20:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cessation” (שֶׁבֶת, shevet); NAB “to shun strife”; NRSV “refrain from strife.”

[20:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “breaks out.” The Hitpael of the verb גָּלַע (gala’, “to expose; to lay bare”) means “to break out; to disclose oneself,” and so the idea of flaring up in a quarrel is clear. But there are also cognate connections to the idea of “showing the teeth; snarling” and so quarreling viciously.

[20:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “bread of deceit” (so KJV, NAB). This refers to food gained through dishonest means. The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific for general, referring to anything obtained by fraud, including food.

[20:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a man.”

[20:17]  ¹⁸ sn The image of food and eating is carried throughout the proverb. Food taken by fraud seems sweet at first, but afterward it is not. To end up with a mouth full of gravel (a mass of small particles; e.g., Job 20:14-15; Lam 3:16) implies by comparison that what has been taken by fraud will be worthless and useless and certainly in the way (like food turning into sand and dirt).

[22:7]  ¹⁹ sn The proverb is making an observation on life. The synonymous parallelism matches “rule over” with “servant” to show how poverty makes people dependent on, or obligated to, others.

[22:7]  ²⁰ tn Or “slave” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, CEV). This may refer to the practice in Israel of people selling themselves into slavery to pay off debts (Exod 21:2-7).