Proverbs 14:30

14:30 A tranquil spirit ¹  revives the body, ² 

but envy ³  is rottenness to the bones. ⁴ 

Habakkuk 3:16

Habakkuk Declares His Confidence

3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; ⁵ 

the sound made my lips quiver.

My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, ⁶ 

and I shook as I tried to walk. ⁷ 

I long ⁸  for the day of distress

to come upon ⁹  the people who attack us.

[14:30]  ¹ tn Heb “heart of healing.” The genitive מַרְפֵּא (marpe’, “healing”) functions as an attributive adjective: “a healing heart.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is a metonymy for the emotional state of a person (BDB 660 s.v. 6). A healthy spirit is tranquil, bringing peace to the body (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 158).

[14:30]  ² tn Heb “life of the flesh” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NIV “gives life to the body.”

[14:30]  ³ tn The term קִנְאָה (qin’ah, “envy”) refers to passionate zeal or “jealousy” (so NAB, NCV, TEV, NLT), depending on whether the object is out of bounds or within one’s rights. In the good sense one might be consumed with zeal to defend the institutions of the sanctuary. But as envy or jealousy the word describes an intense and sometimes violent excitement and desire that is never satisfied.

[14:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “rottenness of bones.” The term “bones” may be a synecdoche representing the entire body; it is in contrast with “flesh” of the first colon. One who is consumed with envy finds no tranquility or general sense of health in body or spirit.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “my insides trembled.”

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “decay entered my bones.”

[3:16]  ⁷ tc Heb “beneath me I shook, which….” The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher) appears to be a relative pronoun, but a relative pronoun does not fit here. The translation assumes a reading אֲשֻׁרָי (’ashuray, “my steps”) as well as an emendation of the preceding verb to a third plural form.

[3:16]  ⁸ tn The translation assumes that אָנוּחַ (’anuakh) is from the otherwise unattested verb נָוָח (navakh, “sigh”; see HALOT 680 s.v. II נוח; so also NEB). Most take this verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and translate, “I wait patiently” (cf. NIV).

[3:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “to come up toward.”