Proverbs 14:17

14:17 A person who has a quick temper ¹  does foolish things,

and a person with crafty schemes ²  is hated. ³ 

Proverbs 18:6

18:6 The lips of a fool ⁴  enter into strife, ⁵ 

and his mouth invites ⁶  a flogging. ⁷ 

Proverbs 21:24

21:24 A proud ⁸  and arrogant ⁹  person, whose name is “Scoffer,” ¹⁰ 

acts ¹¹  with overbearing pride. ¹² 

Proverbs 21:2

21:2 All of a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion, ¹³ 

but the Lord evaluates ¹⁴  the motives. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 14:9

14:9 Fools mock ¹⁶  at reparation, ¹⁷ 

but among the upright there is favor. ¹⁸ 

James 3:14

3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth.

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ¹⁹  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²⁰  from your passions that battle inside you? ²¹ 

[14:17]  ¹ sn The proverb discusses two character traits that are distasteful to others – the quick tempered person (“short of anger” or impatient) and the crafty person (“man of devices”). C. H. Toy thinks that the proverb is antithetical and renders it “but a wise man endures” (Proverbs [ICC], 292). In other words, the quick-tempered person acts foolishly and loses people’s respect, but the wise man does not.

[14:17]  ² tn Heb “a man of devices.”

[14:17]  ³ tc The LXX reads “endures” (from נָשָׂא, nasa’) rather than “is hated” (from שָׂנֵא, sane’). This change seems to have arisen on the assumption that a contrast was needed. It has: “a man of thought endures.” Other versions take מְזִמּוֹת (mÿzimmot) in a good sense; but antithetical parallelism is unwarranted here.

[18:6]  ⁴ sn The “lips” is a metonymy of cause, meaning what the fool says. The “mouth” in the second colon is likewise a metonymy for speech, what comes out of the mouth.

[18:6]  ⁵ sn “Strife” is a metonymy of cause, it is the cause of the beating or flogging that follows; “flogging” in the second colon is a metonymy of effect, the flogging is the effect of the strife. The two together give the whole picture.

[18:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “calls for.” This is personification: What the fool says “calls for” a beating or flogging. The fool deserves punishment, but does not actually request it.

[18:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “blows.” This would probably be physical beatings, either administered by the father or by society (e.g., also 19:25; Ps 141:5; cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT). Today, however, “a beating” could be associated with violent criminal assault, whereas the context suggests punishment. Therefore “a flogging” is used in the translation, since that term is normally associated with disciplinary action.

[21:24]  ⁸ tn The word זֵד (zed, “proud”) comes from the verb זִיד (zid, “to boil up; to seethe; to act proudly [or, presumptuously].” Just as water boiling up in a pot will boil over, so the presumptuous person “oversteps” the boundaries.

[21:24]  ⁹ tn The word יָהִיר (yahir) means “haughty,” that is, to be or show oneself to be presumptuous or arrogant.

[21:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “proud haughty scorner his name” (KJV similar). There are several ways that the line could be translated: (1) “Proud, arrogant – his name is scoffer” or (2) “A proud person, an arrogant person – ‘Scoffer’ is his name.” BDB 267 s.v. זֵד suggests, “A presumptuous man, [who is] haughty, scoffer is his name.”

[21:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “does.” The Qal active participle “does” serves as the main verb, and the subject is “proud person” in the first line.

[21:24]  ¹² tn The expression בְּעֶבְרַת זָדוֹן (be’evrat zadon) means “in the overflow of insolence.” The genitive specifies what the overflow is; the proud deal in an overflow of pride. Cf. NIV “overweening pride”; NLT “boundless arrogance.”

[21:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “in his own eyes.” The term “eyes” is a metonymy for estimation, opinion, evaluation.

[21:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “examines”; NCV, TEV “judges.”

[21:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the hearts.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is used as a metonymy of association for thoughts and motives (BDB 660-61 s.v. 6-7). Even though people think they know themselves, the Lord evaluates motives as well (e.g., Prov 16:2).

[14:9]  ¹⁶ tn The noun “fools” is plural but the verb “mock” is singular. This has led some to reverse the line to say “guilty/guilt offering mocks fools” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 287); see, e.g., Isa 1:14; Amos 5:22. But lack of agreement between subject and verb is not an insurmountable difficulty.

[14:9]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX reads “houses of transgressors will owe purification.” Tg. Prov 14:9 has “guilt has its home among fools” (apparently reading לִין לוּן, lin lun).

[14:9]  ¹⁸ tn The word רָצוֹן (ratson) means “favor; acceptance; pleasing.” It usually means what is pleasing or acceptable to God. In this passage it either means that the upright try to make amends, or that the upright find favor for doing so.

[4:1]  ¹⁹ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”