Proverbs 14:10

14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, ¹ 

and with its joy no one else ²  can share. ³ 

Proverbs 17:14

17:14 Starting a quarrel ⁴  is like letting out water; ⁵ 

stop it before strife breaks out! ⁶ 

Proverbs 20:3

20:3 It is an honor for a person ⁷  to cease ⁸  from strife,

but every fool quarrels. ⁹ 

Proverbs 20:19

20:19 The one who goes about gossiping ¹⁰  reveals secrets;

therefore do not associate ¹¹  with someone who is always opening his mouth. ¹² 

Proverbs 24:21

24:21 Fear the Lord, my child, ¹³  as well as the king,

and do not associate ¹⁴  with rebels, ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 26:17

26:17 Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears, ¹⁶ 

so is the person passing by who becomes furious ¹⁷  over a quarrel not his own.

Isaiah 26:8-9

26:8 Yes, as your judgments unfold, ¹⁸ 

O Lord, we wait for you.

We desire your fame and reputation to grow. ¹⁹ 

26:9 I ²⁰  look for ²¹  you during the night,

my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,

for when your judgments come upon the earth,

those who live in the world learn about justice. ²² 

Jeremiah 15:17

15:17 I did not spend my time in the company of other people,

laughing and having a good time.

I stayed to myself because I felt obligated to you ²³ 

and because I was filled with anger at what they had done.

Mark 1:35

Praying and Preaching

1:35 Then ²⁴  Jesus ²⁵  got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer. ²⁶ 

[14:10]  ¹ tn Heb “bitterness of its soul.”

[14:10]  ² tn Heb “stranger” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[14:10]  ³ tn The verb is the Hitpael of II עָרַב (’arav), which means “to take in pledge; to give in pledge; to exchange.” Here it means “to share [in].” The proverb is saying that there are joys and sorrows that cannot be shared. No one can truly understand the deepest feelings of another.

[17:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “the beginning of a quarrel”; TEV, CEV “The start of an argument.”

[17:14]  ⁵ tn The verse simply begins with “letting out water.” This phrase is a metaphor, but most English versions have made it a simile (supplying “like” or “as”). R. N. Whybray takes it literally and makes it the subject of the clause: “stealing water starts a quarrel” (Proverbs [CBC], 100). However, the verb more likely means “to let out, set free” and not “to steal,” for which there are clearer words.

[17:14]  ⁶ tn The temporal clause is formed with the prepositional “before,” the infinitive construct, and the following subjective genitive. The verb גָּלַע (gala’) means “to expose; to lay bare,” and in the Hitpael “to disclose oneself; to break out.”

[20:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “man.”

[20:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “cessation” (שֶׁבֶת, shevet); NAB “to shun strife”; NRSV “refrain from strife.”

[20:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “breaks out.” The Hitpael of the verb גָּלַע (gala’, “to expose; to lay bare”) means “to break out; to disclose oneself,” and so the idea of flaring up in a quarrel is clear. But there are also cognate connections to the idea of “showing the teeth; snarling” and so quarreling viciously.

[20:19]  ¹⁰ sn The word describes a slanderer (NASB), a tale-bearer (KJV, ASV), or an informer. BDB 940 s.v. רָכִיל says the Hebrew expression “goers of slander” means slanderous persons. However, W. McKane observes that these people are not necessarily malicious – they just talk too much (Proverbs [OTL], 537).

[20:19]  ¹¹ tn The form is the Hitpael imperfect (of prohibition or instruction) from עָרַב (’arav). BDB 786-88 lists six roots with these radicals. The first means “to mix,” but only occurs in derivatives. BDB 786 lists this form under the second root, which means “to take on a pledge; to exchange.” The Hitpael is then defined as “to exchange pledges; to have fellowship with [or, share].” The proverb is warning people to have nothing to do with gossips.

[20:19]  ¹² tn The verb פֹּתֶה (poteh) is a homonym, related to I פָּתָה (patah, “to be naive; to be foolish”; HALOT 984-85 s.v. I פתה) or II פָּתָה (“to open [the lips]; to chatter”; HALOT 985 s.v. II פתה). So the phrase וּלְפֹתֶה שְׂפָתָיו may be understood either (1) as HALOT 985 s.v. II פתה suggests, “one opens his lips” = he is always talking/gossiping, or (2) as BDB suggests, “one who is foolish as to his lips” (he lacks wisdom in what he says; see BDB 834 s.v. פָּתָה 1, noted in HALOT 984 s.v. I פתה 1). The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for what is said: gossip. If such a person is willing to talk about others, he will be willing to talk about you, so it is best to avoid him altogether.

[24:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “my son,” but there is no indication in the immediate context that this should be limited only to male children.

[24:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “do not get mixed up with”; cf. TEV “Have nothing to do with”; NIV “do not join with.” The verb עָרַב (’arav) is used elsewhere meaning “to exchange; to take on pledge.” In the Hitpael stem it means “to have fellowship; to share; to associate with.” Some English versions (e.g., KJV) interpret as “to meddle” in this context, because “to have fellowship” is certainly not what is meant.

[24:21]  ¹⁵ tn The form rendered “rebellious” is difficult; it appears to be the Qal active participle, plural, from שָׁנָה (shanah), “to change” – “those who change.” The RV might have thought of the idea of “change” when they rendered it “political agitators.” The Syriac and Tg. Prov 24:21 have “fools,” the Latin has “detractors,” and the LXX reads, “do not disobey either of them,” referring to God and the king in the first line. Accordingly the ruin predicted in the next line would be the ruin that God and the king can inflict. If the idea of “changers” is retained, it would have to mean people who at one time feared God and the king but no longer do.

[26:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “grabs the ears of a dog. The word “wild” has been supplied in the translation to make clear that these were not domesticated pets. CEV, to accomplish the same point, has “a mad dog,” but there is no indication of that in context.

[26:17]  ¹⁷ tn The word מִתְעַבֵּר (mit’abber) means “to put oneself in a fury” or “become furious” (BDB 720 s.v.). The Latin version apparently assumed the verb was עָרַב (’arav), for it has the sense of “meddle” (so also NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). However, the MT reading could easily fit the verse, referring to anyone passing by who gets furious over a fight that is not his.

[26:8]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text has, “yes, the way of your judgments.” The translation assumes that “way” is related to the verb “we wait” as an adverbial accusative (“in the way of your judgments we wait”). מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ (mishpatekha, “your judgments”) could refer to the Lord’s commandments, in which case one might translate, “as we obey your commands.” However, in verse 9 the same form refers to divine acts of judgment on evildoers.

[26:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “your name and your remembrance [is] the desire of [our?] being.”

[26:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “with my soul I.” This is a figure for the speaker himself (“I”).

[26:9]  ²¹ tn Or “long for, desire.” The speaker acknowledges that he is eager to see God come in judgment (see vv. 8, 9b).

[26:9]  ²² tn The translation understands צֶדֶק (tsedeq) in the sense of “justice,” but it is possible that it carries the nuance “righteousness,” in which case one might translate, “those who live in the world learn to live in a righteous manner” (cf. NCV).

[15:17]  ²³ tn Heb “because of your hand.”

[1:35]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[1:35]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:35]  ²⁶ tn The imperfect προσηύχετο (proshuceto) implies some duration to the prayer.