Discovery BoxProverbs 11:21
Context11:21 Be assured that 1 the evil person will certainly be punished, 2
but the descendants of the righteous 3 will not suffer unjust judgment. 4
Proverbs 17:5
Context17:5 The one who mocks the poor 5 insults 6 his Creator;
whoever rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 19:5
Context19:5 A false witness 7 will not go unpunished,
and the one who spouts out 8 lies will not escape punishment. 9
Proverbs 19:9
Context19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and the one who spouts out 10 lies will perish. 11
Proverbs 28:20
Context28:20 A faithful person 12 will have an abundance of blessings,
but the one who hastens 13 to gain riches will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 6:29
Context6:29 So it is with 14 the one who has sex with 15 his neighbor’s wife;
no one 16 who touches 17 her will escape 18 punishment. 19
Proverbs 16:5
Context
[11:21] 1 tn The expression “hand to hand” refers the custom of striking hands to confirm an agreement (M. Anbar, “Proverbes 11:21; 16:15; יד ליד, «sur le champ»,” Bib 53 [1972]: 537-38). Tg. Prov 11:21 interprets it differently: “he who lifts up his hand against his neighbor will not go unpunished.”
[11:21] 2 tn Heb “will not be free.” The verb נָקָה (naqah) means “to be clean; to be empty.” In the Niphal it means “to be free of guilt; to be clean; to be innocent,” and therefore “to be exempt from punishment” (BDB 667 s.v. Niph). The phrase “will not go unpunished” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) is an example of tapeinosis (a negative statement that emphasizes the positive opposite statement): “will certainly be punished” (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).
[11:21] 3 tn Heb “the seed of the righteous.” This is an idiom that describes a class of people who share the nature of righteousness (e.g., Isa 1:4; 65:23). The word “seed” (hypocatastasis) means “offspring.” Some take it literally, as if it meant that the children of the righteous will escape judgment (Saadia, a Jewish scholar who lived
[11:21] 4 tn Heb “will be delivered” (so NASB). The phrase “from unjust judgment” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the idiom.
[17:5] 5 sn The parallelism helps define the subject matter: The one who “mocks the poor” (NAB, NASB, NIV) is probably one who “rejoices [NIV gloats] over disaster.” The poverty is hereby explained as a disaster that came to some. The topic of the parable is the person who mocks others by making fun of their misfortune.
[17:5] 6 sn The Hebrew word translated “insults” (חֵרֵף, kheref) means “reproach; taunt” (as with a cutting taunt); it describes words that show contempt for or insult God. The idea of reproaching the Creator may be mistaking and blaming God’s providential control of the world (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 337). W. G. Plaut, however, suggests that mocking the poor means holding up their poverty as a personal failure and thus offending their dignity and their divine nature (Proverbs, 187).
[19:5] 9 tn Heb “a witness of lies.” This expression is an attributive genitive: “a lying witness” (cf. CEV “dishonest witnesses”). This is paralleled by “the one who pours out lies.”
[19:5] 10 tn Heb “breathes out”; NAB “utters”; NIV “pours out.”
[19:5] 11 tn Heb “will not escape” (so NAB, NASB); NIV “will not go free.” Here “punishment” is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[19:9] 13 tn Heb “breathes out”; NAB “utters”; NIV “pours out.”
[19:9] 14 sn The verse is the same as v. 5, except that the last word changes to the verb “will perish” (cf. NCV “will die”; CEV, NLT “will be destroyed”; TEV “is doomed”).
[28:20] 17 tn Heb “a man of faithfulness,” although the context does not indicate this should be limited only to males.
[28:20] 18 sn The proverb is not rebuking diligent labor. One who is eager to get rich quickly is the opposite of the faithful person. The first person is faithful to God and to the covenant community; the second is trying to get rich as quickly as possible, at the least without doing an honest day’s work and at the worst dishonestly. In a hurry to gain wealth, he falls into various schemes and will pay for it. Tg. Prov 28:20 interprets this to say he hastens through deceit and wrongdoing.
[6:29] 21 tn Heb “thus is the one.”
[6:29] 22 tn Heb “who goes in to” (so NAB, NASB). The Hebrew verb בּוֹא (bo’, “to go in; to enter”) is used throughout scripture as a euphemism for the act of sexual intercourse. Cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “who sleeps with”; NCV “have sexual relations with.”
[6:29] 23 tn Heb “anyone who touches her will not.”
[6:29] 24 sn The verb “touches” is intended here to be a euphemism for illegal sexual contact (e.g., Gen 20:6).
[6:29] 25 tn Heb “will be exempt from”; NASB, NLT “will not go unpunished.”
[6:29] 26 tn The verb is יִנָּקֶה (yinnaqeh), the Niphal imperfect from נָקָה (naqah, “to be empty; to be clean”). From it we get the adjectives “clean,” “free from guilt,” “innocent.” The Niphal has the meanings (1) “to be cleaned out” (of a plundered city; e.g., Isa 3:26), (2) “to be clean; to be free from guilt; to be innocent” (Ps 19:14), (3) “to be free; to be exempt from punishment” [here], and (4) “to be free; to be exempt from obligation” (Gen 24:8).
[16:5] 25 tn Heb “an abomination of the
[16:5] 26 tn Heb “every proud of heart”; NIV “all the proud of heart.” “Heart” is the genitive of specification; the phrase is talking about people who have proud hearts, whose ideas are arrogant. These are people who set themselves presumptuously against God (e.g., 2 Chr 26:16; Ps 131:1; Prov 18:12).
[16:5] 27 tn Heb “hand to hand.” This idiom means “you can be assured” (e.g., Prov 11:21).
[16:5] 28 tc The LXX has inserted two couplets here: “The beginning of a good way is to do justly, // and it is more acceptable with God than to do sacrifices; // he who seeks the
