Proverbs 15:30

15:30 A bright look ¹  brings joy to the heart,

and good news gives health to the body. ² 

Proverbs 21:4

21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart –

the agricultural product ³  of the wicked is sin.

Proverbs 27:23

27:23 Pay careful attention to ⁴  the condition of your flocks, ⁵ 

give careful attention ⁶  to your herds,

[15:30]  ¹ tc The LXX has “the eye that sees beautiful things.” D. W. Thomas suggests pointing מְאוֹר (mÿ’or) as a Hophal participle, “a fine sight cheers the mind” (“Textual and Philological Notes,” 205). But little is to be gained from this change.

[15:30]  ² tn Heb “makes fat the bones”; NAB “invigorates the bones.” The word “bones” is a metonymy of subject, the bones representing the whole body. The idea of “making fat” signifies by comparison (hypocatastasis) with fat things that the body will be healthy and prosperous (e.g., Prov 17:22; 25:25; Gen 45:27-28; and Isa 52:7-8). Good news makes the person feel good in body and soul.

[21:4]  ³ tn Heb “the tillage [נִר, nir] of the wicked is sin” (so NAB). The subject picks up the subjects of the first half of the verse, indicating they are equal – the tillage consists of the arrogance and pride. The word “tillage” is figurative, of course, signifying that the agricultural product (the point of the comparison) of the wicked is sin. The relationship between the ideas is then problematic. Are pride and arrogance what the wicked produce? Some (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) have followed the LXX and Tg. Prov 21:4 to read “lamp” instead (נֵר, ner), but that does not solve the difficulty of the relationship between the expressions. It does, however, say that the life ( = lamp), which is arrogance and pride, is sin.

[27:23]  ⁵ tn The sentence uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect from יָדַע (yada’, “to know”). The imperfect here has been given the obligatory nuance, “you must know,” and that has to be intensified with the infinitive.

[27:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “the faces of your flock.”

[27:23]  ⁷ tn The idiom is “place [it on] your heart” or “take to heart.” Cf. NLT “put your heart into.”