Proverbs 11:3

11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them, ¹ 

but the crookedness of the unfaithful destroys them. ² 

Proverbs 11:6

11:6 The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, ³ 

but the faithless will be captured ⁴  by their own desires. ⁵ 

Proverbs 14:9

14:9 Fools mock ⁶  at reparation, ⁷ 

but among the upright there is favor. ⁸ 

Proverbs 14:11

14:11 The household ⁹  of the wicked will be destroyed,

but the tent ¹⁰  of the upright will flourish.

Proverbs 21:18

21:18 The wicked become ¹¹  a ransom ¹²  for the righteous,

and the faithless ¹³  are taken ¹⁴  in the place of the upright.

[11:3]  ¹ sn This contrasts two lifestyles, affirming the value of integrity. The upright live with integrity – blamelessness – and that integrity leads them in success and happiness. Those who use treachery will be destroyed by it.

[11:3]  ² tc The form is a Kethib/Qere reading. The Qere יְשָׁדֵּם (yÿshadem) is an imperfect tense with the pronominal suffix. The Kethib וְשַׁדָּם (vÿshadam) is a perfect tense with a vav prefixed and a pronominal suffix. The Qere is supported by the versions.

[11:6]  ³ sn The contrast is between being rescued or delivered (נָצַל, natsal) and being captured (לָכַד, lakhad). Righteousness is freeing; [evil] desires are enslaving.

[11:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “taken captive” (so NRSV); NIV, TEV “are trapped.”

[11:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “but by the desire of the faithless are they taken captive.”

[14:9]  ⁵ tn The noun “fools” is plural but the verb “mock” is singular. This has led some to reverse the line to say “guilty/guilt offering mocks fools” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 287); see, e.g., Isa 1:14; Amos 5:22. But lack of agreement between subject and verb is not an insurmountable difficulty.

[14:9]  ⁶ tc The LXX reads “houses of transgressors will owe purification.” Tg. Prov 14:9 has “guilt has its home among fools” (apparently reading לִין לוּן, lin lun).

[14:9]  ⁷ tn The word רָצוֹן (ratson) means “favor; acceptance; pleasing.” It usually means what is pleasing or acceptable to God. In this passage it either means that the upright try to make amends, or that the upright find favor for doing so.

[14:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.” The term “house” is a metonymy of subject, referring to their contents: families and family life.

[14:11]  ⁸ tn The term “tent” is a metonymy here referring to the contents of the tent: families.

[21:18]  ⁹ tn The term “become” is supplied in the translation.

[21:18]  ¹⁰ sn The Hebrew word translated “ransom” (כֹּפֶר, kofer) normally refers to the price paid to free a prisoner. R. N. Whybray (Proverbs [CBC], 121) gives options for the meaning of the verse: (1) If it means that the wicked obtain good things that should go to the righteous, it is then a despairing plea for justice (which would be unusual in the book of Proverbs); but if (2) it is taken to mean that the wicked suffers the evil he has prepared for the righteous, then it harmonizes with Proverbs elsewhere (e.g., 11:8). The ideal this proverb presents – and the future reality – is that in calamity the righteous escape and the wicked suffer in their place (e.g., Haman in the book of Esther).

[21:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “treacherous” (so ASV, NASB, NLT); NIV “the unfaithful.”

[21:18]  ¹² tn The phrase “are taken” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for smoothness.