[13:9] 1 sn The images of “light” and “darkness” are used frequently in scripture. Here “light” is an implied comparison: “light” represents life, joy, and prosperity; “darkness” signifies adversity and death. So the “light of the righteous” represents the prosperous life of the righteous.
[13:9] 2 tn The verb יִשְׂמָח (yismah) is normally translated “to make glad; to rejoice.” But with “light” as the subject, it has the connotation “to shine brightly” (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew Text of Proverbs,” Bib 32 [1951]: 180).
[13:9] 3 sn The lamp is an implied comparison as well, comparing the life of the wicked to a lamp that is going to be extinguished.
[13:9] 4 tc The LXX adds, “Deceitful souls go astray in sins, but the righteous are pitiful and merciful.”
