Proverbs 11:22

11:22 Like a gold ring ¹  in a pig’s snout ² 

is ³  a beautiful woman who rejects ⁴  discretion. ⁵ 

Proverbs 17:8

17:8 A bribe works like ⁶  a charm ⁷  for the one who offers it; ⁸ 

in whatever he does ⁹  he succeeds. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 18:4

18:4 The words of a person’s mouth are like ¹¹  deep waters, ¹² 

and ¹³  the fountain of wisdom ¹⁴  is like ¹⁵  a flowing brook. ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 18:11

18:11 The wealth ¹⁷  of a rich person is like ¹⁸  a strong city, ¹⁹ 

and it is like a high wall in his imagination. ²⁰ 

Proverbs 21:1

21:1 The king’s heart ²¹  is in the hand ²²  of the Lord like channels of water; ²³ 

he turns it wherever he wants.

Proverbs 23:28

23:28 Indeed, she lies in wait like a robber, ²⁴ 

and increases the unfaithful ²⁵  among men. ²⁶ 

Proverbs 26:7

26:7 Like legs that hang limp ²⁷  from the lame,

so ²⁸  is a proverb ²⁹  in the mouth of fools.

[11:22]  ¹ tn Heb “a ring of gold.” The noun זָהָב (zahav, “gold”) is a genitive of material; the ring is made out of gold.

[11:22]  ² tn Heb “in a snout of a swine.” A beautiful ornament and a pig are as incongruous as a beautiful woman who has no taste or ethical judgment.

[11:22]  ³ tn The verb “is” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[11:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “turns away [from].”

[11:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “taste.” The term can refer to physical taste (Exod 16:31), intellectual discretion (1 Sam 25:33), or ethical judgment (Ps 119:66). Here it probably means that she has no moral sensibility, no propriety, no good taste – she is unchaste. Her beauty will be put to wrong uses.

[17:8]  ⁶ tn The phrase “works like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[17:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “a stone of favors”; NAB, NRSV “a magic stone.” The term שֹׁחַד (shokhad, “bribe”) could be simply translated as “a gift”; but the second half of the verse says that the one who offers it is successful. At best it could be a gift that opens doors; at worst it is a bribe. The word שֹׁחַד is never used of a disinterested gift, so there is always something of the bribe in it (e.g., Ps 15:5; Isa 1:23). Here it is “a stone that brings favor,” the genitive being the effect or the result of the gift. In other words, it has magical properties and “works like a charm.”

[17:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the eyes of its owner.”

[17:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “in all that he turns”; NASB, NIV “wherever he turns.”

[17:8]  ¹⁰ sn As C. H. Toy points out, the sage is merely affirming a point without making a comment – those who use bribery meet with widespread success (Proverbs [ICC], 341). This does not amount to an endorsement of bribery.

[18:4]  ¹¹ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[18:4]  ¹² sn The metaphor “deep waters” indicates either that the words have an inexhaustible supply or that they are profound.

[18:4]  ¹³ tn There is debate about the nature of the parallelism between lines 4a and 4b. The major options are: (1) synonymous parallelism, (2) antithetical parallelism (e.g., NAB, NIV, NCV) or (3) formal parallelism. Normally a vav (ו) would begin an antithetical clause; the structure and the ideas suggest that the second colon continues the idea of the first half, but in a parallel way rather than as additional predicates. The metaphors used in the proverb elsewhere describe the wise.

[18:4]  ¹⁴ sn This is an implied comparison (hypocatastasis), the fountain of wisdom being the person who speaks. The Greek version has “fountain of life” instead of “wisdom,” probably influenced from 10:11.

[18:4]  ¹⁵ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[18:4]  ¹⁶ sn The point of this metaphor is that the wisdom is a continuous source of refreshing and beneficial ideas.

[18:11]  ¹⁶ sn This proverb forms a contrast with the previous one. The rich, unlike the righteous, trust in wealth and not in God.

[18:11]  ¹⁷ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[18:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “city of his strength”; NIV “fortified city.” This term refers to their place of refuge, what they look to for security and protection in time of trouble.

[18:11]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads בְּמַשְׂכִּיתוֹ (bÿmaskito, “in his imaginations”). The LXX, Tg. Prov 18:11, and the Latin reflect בִּמְשֻׂכָּתוֹ (bimsukato, “like a fence [or, high wall]”) that is, wealth provides protection. The MT reading, on the other hand, suggests that this security is only in the mind.

[21:1]  ²¹ sn “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.

[21:1]  ²² sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.

[21:1]  ²³ tn “Channels of water” (פַּלְגֵי, palge) is an adverbial accusative, functioning as a figure of comparison – “like channels of water.” Cf. NAB “Like a stream”; NIV “watercourse”; NRSV, NLT “a stream of water.”

[23:28]  ²⁶ tn The noun חֶתֶף (khetef) is defined by BDB 369 s.v. as “prey,” but this is the only occurrence of the word. The related verb BDB 368-69 s.v. חָתַף defines as “to seize; to snatch away” (with an Aramaic cognate meaning “to break in pieces” [Pa], and an Arabic word “death”). But the only occurrence of that word is in Job 9:12, where it is defined as “seizes.” So in this passage the noun could have either a passive sense (what is seized = prey), or an active sense (the one who seizes = a robber, bandit). The traditional rendering is “prey” (KJV); most modern English versions have the active sense (“robber” or similar; cf. NIV “like a bandit”). Since the prepositional phrase (the simile) is modifying the woman, the active sense works better in the translation.

[23:28]  ²⁷ tn The participle means “unfaithful [men]” (masculine plural); it could also be interpreted as “unfaithfulness” in the abstract sense. M. Dahood interprets it to mean “garments” (which would have to be repointed), saying that she collects garments in pledge for her service (M. Dahood, “To Pawn One’s Cloak,” Bib 42 [1961]: 359-66). But that is far-fetched; it might have happened on occasion, but as a common custom it is unlikely. Besides that, the text in the MT makes perfectly good sense without such a change.

[23:28]  ²⁸ sn Verses 26-28 comprise the seventeenth saying; it warns the young person to follow the instructions about temptations because there are plenty of temptresses lurking about.

[26:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “like the legs which hang down from the lame” (so NASB). The is דַּלְיוּ (dalyu), from דָּלַל (dalal, “to hang; to be low; to languish”) although the spelling of the form indicates it would be from דָּלָה (dalah, “to draw” [water]). The word indicates the uselessness of the legs – they are there but cannot be used. Luther gave the verse a fanciful but memorable rendering: “Like dancing to a cripple, so is a proverb in the mouth of the fool.”

[26:7]  ³² tn The proverb does not begin with a כְּ (bet) preposition to indicate a simile; but the analogy within the verse makes it clear that the first line is the emblem. The conjunction vav then indicates the equation – “so.”

[26:7]  ³³ sn As C. H. Toy puts it, the fool is a “proverb-monger” (Proverbs [ICC], 474); he handles an aphorism about as well as a lame man can walk. The fool does not understand, has not implemented, and cannot explain the proverb. It is useless to him even though he repeats it.