Proverbs 13:25

13:25 The righteous has enough food to satisfy his appetite, ¹ 

but the belly of the wicked lacks food. ² 

Proverbs 18:8

18:8 The words of a gossip ³  are like choice morsels; ⁴ 

they go down into the person’s innermost being. ⁵ 

Proverbs 18:20

18:20 From the fruit of a person’s mouth ⁶  his stomach is satisfied, ⁷ 

with the product of his lips is he satisfied.

Proverbs 20:27

20:27 The human spirit ⁸  is like ⁹  the lamp ¹⁰  of the Lord,

searching all his innermost parts. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 20:30

20:30 Beatings and wounds cleanse away ¹²  evil,

and floggings cleanse ¹³  the innermost being. ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 26:22

26:22 The words of a gossip are like delicious morsels;

they go down into a person’s innermost being. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 31:2

31:2 O ¹⁶  my son, O son of my womb,

O son ¹⁷  of my vows,

Proverbs 22:18

22:18 For it is pleasing if ¹⁸  you keep these sayings ¹⁹  within you,

and ²⁰  they are ready on your lips. ²¹ 

[13:25]  ¹ tn The noun נֶפֶשׁ (traditionally “soul”; cf. KJV, ASV) here means “appetite” (BDB 660 s.v. 5.a).

[13:25]  ² tn Heb “he will lack.” The term “food” is supplied in the translation as a clarification. The wicked may go hungry, or lack all they desire, just as the first colon may mean that what the righteous acquire proves satisfying to them.

[18:8]  ³ tn Or “slanderer”; KJV, NAB “talebearer”; ASV, NRSV “whisperer.”

[18:8]  ⁴ tn The word כְּמִתְלַהֲמִים (kÿmitlahamim) occurs only here. It is related to a cognate verb meaning “to swallow greedily.” Earlier English versions took it from a Hebrew root הָלַם (halam, see the word לְמַהֲלֻמוֹת [lÿmahalumot] in v. 6) meaning “wounds” (so KJV). But the translation of “choice morsels” fits the idea of gossip better.

[18:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “they go down [into] the innermost parts of the belly”; NASB “of the body.”

[18:20]  ⁵ sn Two images are used in this proverb: the fruit of the mouth and the harvest of the lips. They are synonymous; the first is applied to the orchard and the second to the field. The “mouth” and the “lips” are metonymies of cause, and so both lines are speaking about speech that is productive.

[18:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “his midst.” This is rendered “his stomach” because of the use of שָׂבַע (sava’, “to be satisfied; to be sated; to be filled”), which is usually used with food (cf. KJV, ASV “belly”).

[20:27]  ⁷ sn The expression translated “the human spirit” is the Hebrew term נִשְׁמַת (nishmat), a feminine noun in construct. This is the inner spiritual part of human life that was breathed in at creation (Gen 2:7) and that constitutes humans as spiritual beings with moral, intellectual, and spiritual capacities.

[20:27]  ⁸ 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.

[20:27]  ⁹ tn The “lamp” is the metaphor in the line; it signifies that the human spirit functions as a conscience, enabling people to know and please God, and directing them in choices that will be life-giving. E. Loewenstamm unnecessarily reads נִיר (nir, “to plow”) instead of נֵר (ner, “lamp”) to say that God plows and examines the soul (“Remarks on Proverbs 17:12 and 20:27,” VT 37 [1967]: 233). The NIV supplies a verb (“searches”) from the second half of the verse, changing the emphasis somewhat.

[20:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the chambers of the belly.” This means “the inner parts of the body” (BDB 293 s.v. חֶדֶר); cf. NASB “the innermost parts of his being.”

[20:30]  ⁹ tc The verb מָרַק (maraq) means “to polish; to scour”; in the Hiphil it means “to cleanse away,” but it is only attested here, and that in the Kethib reading of תַּמְרִיק (tamriq). The Qere has תַּמְרוּק (tamruq, “are a means of cleansing”). The LXX has “blows and contusions fall on evil men, and stripes penetrate their inner beings”; the Latin has “the bruise of a wound cleanses away evil things.” C. H. Toy suggests emending the text to read “stripes cleanse the body, and blows the inward parts” or “cosmetics purify the body, and blows the soul” (Proverbs [ICC], 397). Cf. CEV “can knock all of the evil out of you.”

[20:30]  ¹⁰ tn The term “cleanse” does not appear in this line but is supplied in the translation in the light of the parallelism.

[20:30]  ¹¹ sn Physical punishment may prove spiritually valuable. Other proverbs say that some people will never learn from this kind of punishment, but in general this may be the only thing that works for some cases.

[26:22]  ¹¹ tn The proverb is essentially the same as 18:8; it observes how appealing gossip is.

[31:2]  ¹³ tn The form מַה (mah), normally the interrogative “what?” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB) is best interpreted here as an exclamation. Tg. Prov 31:2 has “Woe!”

[31:2]  ¹⁴ tn In all three occurrences in this verse the word “son” has the Aramaic spelling, ַַבּר (bar), rather than the Hebrew בֵּן (ben). The repetition of the word “son” shows the seriousness of the warning; and the expression “son of my womb” and “son of my vows” are endearing epithets to show the great investment she has made in his religious place in God’s program. For a view that “son of my womb” should be “my own son,” see F. Deist, “Proverbs 31:1, A Case of Constant Mistranslation,” JNSL 6 (1978): 1-3; cf. TEV “my own dear son.”

[22:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “when” (so NIV).

[22:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “keep them,” referring to the words of the wise expressed in these sayings. The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:18]  ¹⁷ tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.

[22:18]  ¹⁸ sn If the teachings are preserved in the heart/mind of the disciple, then that individual will always be ready to speak what was retained.