Proverbs 11:15

11:15 The one who puts up security for a stranger ¹  will surely have trouble, ² 

but whoever avoids ³  shaking hands ⁴  will be secure.

Proverbs 17:18

17:18 The one who lacks wisdom ⁵  strikes hands in pledge, ⁶ 

and puts up financial security ⁷  for his neighbor. ⁸ 

Proverbs 20:16

20:16 Take a man’s ⁹  garment ¹⁰  when he has given security for a stranger, ¹¹ 

and when he gives surety for strangers, ¹²  hold him ¹³  in pledge.

Proverbs 22:26

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

or who puts up security for debts.

Proverbs 27:13

27:13 Take a man’s ¹⁴  garment when he has given security for a stranger,

and when he gives surety for a stranger, ¹⁵  hold him in pledge. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 43:9

43:9 I myself pledge security ¹⁷  for him; you may hold me liable. If I do not bring him back to you and place him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 44:32-33

44:32 Indeed, ¹⁹  your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’

44:33 “So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy. As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.

Job 17:3

17:3 Make then my pledge ²⁰  with you.

Who else will put up security for me? ²¹ 

Philemon 1:18-19

1:18 Now if he has defrauded you of anything or owes you anything, charge what he owes ²²  to me. 1:19 I, Paul, have written ²³  this letter ²⁴  with my own hand: ²⁵  I will repay it. I could also mention that you owe ²⁶  me your very self.

Hebrews 7:22

7:22 accordingly Jesus has become the guarantee ²⁷  of a better covenant.

[11:15]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “heart”; KJV, ASV “a man void of understanding”; NIV “a man lacking in judgment.”

[17:18]  ⁶ tn The phrase “in pledge” is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:18]  ⁷ tn The line uses the participle עֹרֵב (’orev) with its cognate accusative עֲרֻבָּה (’arubah), “who pledges a pledge.”

[17:18]  ⁸ sn It is foolish to pledge security for someone’s loans (e.g., Prov 6:1-5).

[20:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “his garment.”

[20:16]  ¹⁰ sn Taking a garment was the way of holding someone responsible to pay debts. In fact, the garment was the article normally taken for security (Exod 22:24-26; Deut 24:10-13). Because this is a high risk security pledge (e.g., 6:1-5), the creditor is to deal more severely than when the pledge is given by the debtor for himself.

[20:16]  ¹¹ tc The Kethib has the masculine plural form, נָכְרִים (nakhrim), suggesting a reading “strangers.” But the Qere has the feminine form נָכְרִיָּה (nakhriyyah), “strange woman” or “another man’s wife” (e.g., 27:13). The parallelism would suggest “strangers” is the correct reading, although theories have been put forward for the interpretation of “strange woman” (see below).

[20:16]  ¹² tn M. Dahood argues that the cloak was taken in pledge for a harlot (cf. NIV “a wayward woman”). Two sins would then be committed: taking a cloak and going to a prostitute (“To Pawn One’s Cloak,” Bib 42 [1961]: 359-66; also Snijders, “The Meaning of זָר,” 85-86). In the MT the almost identical proverb in 27:13 has a feminine singular form here.

[20:16]  ¹³ tn Or “hold it” (so NIV, NCV).

[27:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his garment.”

[27:13]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for a strange (= adulterous) woman.” Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NLT; NIV “a wayward woman.”

[27:13]  ¹⁶ tn This proverb is virtually identical to 20:16.

[43:9]  ¹⁷ tn The pronoun before the first person verbal form draws attention to the subject and emphasizes Judah’s willingness to be personally responsible for the boy.

[43:9]  ¹⁸ sn I will bear the blame before you all my life. It is not clear how this would work out if Benjamin did not come back. But Judah is offering his life for Benjamin’s if Benjamin does not return.

[44:32]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for.”

[17:3]  ²⁰ tn The MT has two imperatives: “Lay down, pledge me, with me.” Most commentators think that the second imperative should be a noun, and take it to say, “Lay my pledge with/beside you.” A. B. Davidson (Job, 126) suggests that the first verb means “give a pledge,” and so the two similar verbs would be emphatic: “Give a pledge, be my surety.” Other than such a change (which would involve changing the vowels) one would have to interpret similarly by seeing the imperatives as a kind of hendiadys, with the main emphasis being on the second imperative, “make a pledge.”

[17:3]  ²¹ sn The idiom is “to strike the hand.” Here the wording is a little different, “Who is he that will strike himself into my hand?”

[1:18]  ²² tn Grk “charge it to me.”

[1:19]  ²³ tn Grk “I wrote” Here ἔγραψα (egraya) is functioning as an epistolary aorist. Paul puts it in the past tense because from Philemon’s perspective when he reads the letter it will, of course, already have been written.

[1:19]  ²⁴ tn The phrase “this letter” does not appear in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to clarify the meaning.

[1:19]  ²⁵ sn With my own hand. Paul may have considered this letter so delicate that he wrote the letter himself as opposed to using an amanuensis or secretary.

[1:19]  ²⁶ sn The statement you owe me your very self means that Paul was responsible for some sort of blessing in the life of Philemon; though a monetary idea may be in mind, it is perhaps better to understand Paul as referring to the spiritual truth (i.e., the gospel) he had taught Philemon.

[7:22]  ²⁷ tn Or “surety.”