Proverbs 11:31

11:31 If the righteous are recompensed on earth, ¹ 

how much more ²  the wicked sinner! ³ 

Proverbs 19:12

19:12 A king’s wrath is like ⁴  the roar of a lion, ⁵ 

but his favor is like dew on the grass. ⁶ 

Proverbs 20:8

20:8 A king sitting on the throne to judge ⁷ 

separates out ⁸  all evil with his eyes. ⁹ 

Proverbs 25:22

25:22 for you will heap coals of fire on his head, ¹⁰ 

and the Lord will reward you. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 26:27

26:27 The one who digs a pit ¹²  will fall into it;

the one who rolls a stone – it will come back on him.

Proverbs 27:12

27:12 A shrewd person sees danger and hides himself,

but the naive keep right on going ¹³  and suffer for it.

Proverbs 31:26

31:26 She opens her mouth ¹⁴  with wisdom,

and loving instruction ¹⁵  is on her tongue.

[11:31]  ¹ tc The LXX introduces a new idea: “If the righteous be scarcely saved” (reflected in 1 Pet 4:18). The Greek translation “scarcely” could have come from a Vorlage of בַּצָּרָה (batsarah, “deficiency” or “want”) or בָּצַּר (batsar, “to cut off; to shorten”) perhaps arising from confusion over the letters. The verb “receive due” could only be translated “saved” by an indirect interpretation. See J. Barr, “בארץ ~ ΜΟΛΙΣ: Prov. XI.31, I Pet. IV.18,” JSS 20 (1975): 149-64.

[11:31]  ² tn This construction is one of the “how much more” arguments – if this be true, how much more this (arguing from the lesser to the greater). The point is that if the righteous suffer for their sins, certainly the wicked will as well.

[11:31]  ³ tn Heb “the wicked and the sinner.” The two terms may form a hendiadys with the first functioning adjectivally: “the wicked sinner.”

[19:12]  ⁴ sn The verse contrasts the “rage” of the king with his “favor” by using two similes. The first simile presents the king at his most dangerous – his anger (e.g., 20:2; Amos 3:4). The second simile presents his favor as beneficial for life (e.g., 16:14-15; 28:15).

[19:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “is a roaring like a lion.”

[19:12]  ⁶ sn The proverb makes an observation about a king’s power to terrify or to refresh. It advises people to use tact with a king.

[20:8]  ⁷ tn The infinitive construct is דִּין; it indicates purpose, “to judge” (so NIV, NCV) even though it does not have the preposition with it.

[20:8]  ⁸ tn The second line uses the image of winnowing (cf. NIV, NRSV) to state that the king’s judgment removes evil from the realm. The verb form is מִזָרֶה (mÿzareh), the Piel participle. It has been translated “to sift; to winnow; to scatter” and “to separate” – i.e., separate out evil from the land. The text is saying that a just government roots out evil (cf. NAB “dispels all evil”), but few governments have been consistently just.

[20:8]  ⁹ sn The phrase with his eyes indicates that the king will closely examine or look into all the cases that come before him.

[25:22]  ¹⁰ sn The imagery of the “burning coals” represents pangs of conscience, more readily effected by kindness than by violence. These coals produce the sharp pain of contrition through regret (e.g., 18:19; 20:22; 24:17; Gen 42-45; 1 Sam 24:18-20; Rom 12:20). The coals then would be an implied comparison with a searing conscience.

[25:22]  ¹¹ sn The second consequence of treating enemies with kindness is that the Lord will reward the act. The fact that this is promised shows that the instruction here belongs to the religious traditions of Israel.

[26:27]  ¹³ sn The verse is teaching talionic justice (“an eye for an eye,” etc.), and so the activities described should be interpreted as evil in their intent. “Digging a pit” would mean laying a trap for someone (the figure of speech would be a metonymy of cause for the effect of ruining someone, if an actual pit is being dug; the figure would be hypocatastasis if digging a pit is being compared to laying a trap, but no pit is being dug). Likewise, “rolling a stone” on someone means to destroy that individual.

[27:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “go on”; the word “right” is supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning: The naive person, oblivious to impending danger, meets it head on.

[31:26]  ¹⁹ tn The first word of the seventeenth line begins with פּ (pe), the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:26]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew phrase תּוֹרַת־חֶסֶד (torat-khesed) is open to different interpretations. (1) The word “law” could here refer to “teaching” as it does frequently in the book of Proverbs, and the word “love,” which means “loyal, covenant love,” could have the emphasis on faithfulness, yielding the idea of “faithful teaching” to parallel “wisdom” (cf. NIV). (2) The word “love” should probably have more of the emphasis on its basic meaning of “loyal love, lovingkindness.” It also would be an attributive genitive, but its force would be that of “loving instruction” or “teaching with kindness.”