Proverbs 10:9

10:9 The one who conducts himself ¹  in integrity ²  will live ³  securely,

but the one who behaves perversely ⁴  will be found out.

Proverbs 12:10

12:10 A righteous person cares for ⁵  the life of his animal,

but even the most compassionate acts ⁶  of the wicked are cruel.

Proverbs 12:16

12:16 A fool’s annoyance ⁷  is known at once, ⁸ 

but the prudent ⁹  overlooks ¹⁰  an insult.

Proverbs 14:10

14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, ¹¹ 

and with its joy no one else ¹²  can share. ¹³ 

Proverbs 17:27

17:27 The truly wise person ¹⁴  restrains ¹⁵  his words,

and the one who stays calm ¹⁶  is discerning.

Proverbs 24:22

24:22 for suddenly their destruction will overtake them, ¹⁷ 

and who knows the ruinous judgment both the Lord and the king can bring? ¹⁸ 

[10:9]  ¹ tn Heb “he who walks.” The idiom is used widely in both OT and NT for conduct, behavior, or lifestyle.

[10:9]  ² sn “Integrity” here means “blameless” in conduct. Security follows integrity, because the lifestyle is blameless. The righteous is certain of the course to be followed and does not fear retribution from man or God.

[10:9]  ³ tn Heb “walks.”

[10:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “he who perverts his ways” (so NASB); NIV “who takes crooked paths” (NLT similar). The Piel participle מְעַקֵּשׁ (mÿ’aqqesh) means “make crooked; twisted; perverse.” It is stronger than simply taking crooked paths; it refers to perverting the ways. The one who is devious will not get away with it.

[12:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “knows”; NLT “concerned for the welfare of.” The righteous take care of animals, not just people.

[12:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “but the mercies.” The additional words appear in the translation for the sake of clarification. The line can be interpreted in two ways: (1) when the wicked exhibit a kind act, they do it in a cruel way, or (2) even the kindest of their acts is cruel by all assessments, e.g., stuffing animals with food to fatten them for market – their “kindness” is driven by ulterior motives (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 129).

[12:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “The fool, at once his vexation is known.” This rhetorically emphatic construction uses an independent nominative absolute, which is then followed by the formal subject with a suffix. The construction focuses attention on “the fool,” then states what is to be said about him.

[12:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “on the day” or “the same day.”

[12:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “shrewd.”

[12:16]  ¹² tn Heb “covers.” The verb כָּסָה (casah) means “covers” in the sense of ignores or bides his time. The point is not that he does not respond at all, but that he is shrewd enough to handle the criticism or insult in the best way – not instinctively and irrationally.

[14:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “bitterness of its soul.”

[14:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “stranger” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[14:10]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is the Hitpael of II עָרַב (’arav), which means “to take in pledge; to give in pledge; to exchange.” Here it means “to share [in].” The proverb is saying that there are joys and sorrows that cannot be shared. No one can truly understand the deepest feelings of another.

[17:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the one knowing knowledge.” The cognate accusative underscores the meaning of the participle – this is a truly knowledgeable person.

[17:27]  ¹⁸ sn The participle חוֹשֵׂךְ (khosekh) means “withholds; restrains; refrains; spares; holds in check,” etc. One who has knowledge speaks carefully.

[17:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “cool of spirit.” This genitive of specification describes one who is “calm” (so NCV, TEV, CEV) or “even-tempered” (so NIV, NLT); he is composed.

[24:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “will rise” (so NASB).

[24:22]  ²² tn Heb “the ruin of the two of them.” Judgment is sent on the rebels both by God and the king. The term פִּיד (pid, “ruin; disaster”) is a metonymy of effect, the cause being the sentence of judgment (= “ruinous judgment” in the translation; cf. NLT “punishment”). The word “two of them” is a subjective genitive – they two bring the disaster on the rebels. The referents (the Lord and the king) have been specified in the translation for clarity.