Proverbs 11:7

11:7 When a wicked person dies, his expectation perishes, ¹ 

and the hope of his strength ²  perishes. ³ 

Proverbs 26:12

26:12 Do you see ⁴  a man wise in his own eyes? ⁵ 

There is more hope for a fool ⁶  than for him.

Proverbs 29:20

29:20 Do you see someone ⁷  who is hasty in his words? ⁸ 

There is more hope for a fool than for him. ⁹ 

Proverbs 19:18

19:18 Discipline your child, for ¹⁰  there is hope,

but do not set your heart ¹¹  on causing his death. ¹² 

[11:7]  ¹ tn The first colon features an imperfect tense depicting habitual action, while the second has a perfect tense verb depicting gnomic action.

[11:7]  ² tc There are several suggested changes for this word אוֹנִים (’onim, “vigor” or “strength”). Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 1040-1105, suggests that the word refers to children, a meaning implied from Gen 49:3. This would mean that even his children would not benefit from his wickedness. Tg. Prov 11:7 rendered it “who practice crookedness,” deriving it from the first root which means “wickedness.”

[11:7]  ³ tc The LXX adds an antithesis to this: “When the righteous dies, hope does not perish.” The LXX translators wanted to see the hope of the righteous fulfilled in the world to come.

[26:12]  ⁴ tn The verse simply uses a perfect tense. The meaning of the verse would be the same if this were interpreted as an affirmation rather than as an interrogative. The first line calls such a person to one’s attention.

[26:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “in his own eyes” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[26:12]  ⁶ sn Previous passages in the book of Proverbs all but deny the possibility of hope for the fool. So this proverb is saying there is absolutely no hope for the self-conceited person, and there might be a slight hope for the fool – he may yet figure out that he really is a fool.

[29:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “a man,” but there is no indication in the immediate context that this should be limited only to males.

[29:20]  ⁸ sn The focus of this proverb is on someone who is hasty in his words. This is the person who does not stop to think, but acts on the spur of the moment. To speak before thinking is foolishness.

[29:20]  ⁹ sn Rash speech cannot easily be remedied. The prospects for a fool are better (e.g., Prov 26:12).

[19:18]  ¹⁰ tn The translation understands כִּי (ki) as causal. Some prefer to take כִּי as temporal and translate, “while there is hope” (so KJV, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT), meaning that discipline should be administered when the child is young and easily guided. In the causal reading of כִּי, the idea seems to be that children should be disciplined because change is possible due to their youth and the fact that they are not set in their ways.

[19:18]  ¹¹ tn The expression “do not lift up your soul/life” to his death may mean (1) “do not set your heart” on his death (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV), or it may mean (2) “do not be a willing partner” (cf. NIV). The parent is to discipline a child, but he is not to take it to the extreme and destroy or kill the child.

[19:18]  ¹² tn The Hiphil infinitive construct הֲמִיתוֹ (h^amito) means “taking it to heart” in this line. The traditional rendering was “and let not your soul spare for his crying.” This involved a different reading than “causing his death” (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 206-7).