Proverbs 11:28

11:28 The one who trusts in his riches will fall,

but the righteous ¹  will flourish like a green leaf. ² 

Proverbs 21:20

21:20 There is desirable treasure and olive oil ³  in the dwelling of the wise,

but a foolish person ⁴  devours all he has. ⁵ 

Job 8:6

8:6 if you become ⁶  pure ⁷  and upright, ⁸ 

even now he will rouse himself ⁹  for you,

and will restore ¹⁰  your righteous abode. ¹¹ 

Psalms 112:2-3

112:2 His descendants ¹²  will be powerful on the earth;

the godly ¹³  will be blessed.

112:3 His house contains wealth and riches;

his integrity endures. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 128:3

128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine ¹⁵ 

in the inner rooms of your house;

your children ¹⁶  will be like olive branches,

as they sit all around your table.

Isaiah 58:11-12

58:11 The Lord will continually lead you;

he will feed you even in parched regions. ¹⁷ 

He will give you renewed strength, ¹⁸ 

and you will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring that continually produces water.

58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ¹⁹ 

you will reestablish the ancient foundations.

You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,

the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ²⁰ 

[11:28]  ¹ sn The implication from the parallelism is that the righteous do not trust in their own riches, but in the Lord.

[11:28]  ² tn Heb “leafage” or “leaf” (cf. KJV “as a branch”); TEV “leaves of summer”; NLT “leaves in spring.” The simile of a leaf is a figure of prosperity and fertility throughout the ancient Near East.

[21:20]  ³ tn The mention of “olive oil” (שֶׁמֶן, shemen) is problematic in the line – how can a fool devour it? Several attempts have been made to alleviate the problem. The NIV interprets “treasure” as “choice food,” so that food and oil would make more sense being swallowed. C. H. Toy (Proverbs [ICC], 406) suggests dropping “oil” altogether based on the reading in the LXX, but the Greek is too general for any support: It has “precious treasure will rest on the mouth of the sage.” W. McKane wants to change “oil” to an Arabic word “expensive” to read “desirable and rare wealth” (Proverbs [OTL], 552), but this idea does not match the metaphor any better. The figure of “devouring” in the second line simply means the fool uses up whatever he has.

[21:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “a fool of a man.”

[21:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “he swallows it.” The imagery compares swallowing food with consuming one’s substance. The fool does not prepare for the future.

[8:6]  ⁶ tn A verb form needs to be supplied here. Bildad is not saying to Job, “If you are pure [as you say you are].” Bildad is convinced that Job is a sinner. Therefore, “If you become pure” makes more sense here.

[8:6]  ⁷ tn Or “innocent” (i.e., acquitted).

[8:6]  ⁸ tn Many commentators delete this colon as a moralizing gloss on v. 5; but the phrase makes good sense, and simply serves as another condition. Besides, the expression is in the LXX.

[8:6]  ⁹ tn The verb יָעִיר (ya’ir, “rouse, stir up”) is a strong anthropomorphism. The LXX has “he will answer your prayer” (which is probably only the LXX’s effort to avoid the anthropomorphism [D. J. A. Clines, Job (WBC), 198]). A reading of “watch over you” has been adopted because of parallel texts (see H. L. Ginsberg, “Two North Canaanite Letters from Ugarit,” BASOR 72 [1938]: 18-19; and H. N. Richardson, “A Ugaritic Letter of a King to His Mother,” JBL 66 [1947]: 321-24). Others suggest “his light will shine on you” or “he will bestow health on you.” But the idea of “awake” is common enough in the Bible to be retained here.

[8:6]  ¹⁰ tn The Piel of שָׁלַם (shalam) means “to make good; to repay; to restore something to its wholeness; to reestablish.” The best understanding here would be “restore [Job] to his place.” Some take the verb in the sense of “reward [Job himself] with a righteous habitation.”

[8:6]  ¹¹ tn The construct נְוַת (nÿvat) is feminine; only the masculine occurs in Hebrew. But the meaning “abode of your righteousness” is clear enough. The righteousness of Job is pictured as inhabiting an estate, or it pictures the place where Job lives as a righteous man. A translation “rightful habitation” would mean “the habitation that you deserve” – if you are righteous.

[112:2]  ¹² tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[112:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “His seed will be mighty on the earth, the generation of the godly.” The Hebrew term דוֹר (dor, “generation”) could be taken as parallel to “offspring” and translated “posterity,” but the singular more likely refers to the godly as a class. See BDB 189-90 s.v. for other examples where “generation” refers to a class of people.

[112:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “stands forever.”

[128:3]  ¹⁵ sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).

[128:3]  ¹⁶ tn One could translate “sons” (see Ps 127:3 and the note on the word “sons” there), but here the term seems to refer more generally to children of both genders.

[58:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he will satisfy in parched regions your appetite.”

[58:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and your bones he will strengthen.”

[58:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”

[58:12]  ²⁰ tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.