Proverbs 19:17

19:17 The one who is gracious ¹  to the poor lends ²  to the Lord,

and the Lord ³  will repay him ⁴  for his good deed. ⁵ 

Proverbs 20:16

20:16 Take a man’s ⁶  garment ⁷  when he has given security for a stranger, ⁸ 

and when he gives surety for strangers, ⁹  hold him ¹⁰  in pledge.

Proverbs 25:14

25:14 Like cloudy skies and wind that produce no rain, ¹¹ 

so is the one who boasts ¹²  of a gift not given. ¹³ 

Proverbs 27:13

27:13 Take a man’s ¹⁴  garment when he has given security for a stranger,

and when he gives surety for a stranger, ¹⁵  hold him in pledge. ¹⁶ 

[19:17]  ¹ sn The participle חוֹנֵן (khonen, “shows favor to”) is related to the word for “grace.” The activity here is the kind favor shown poor people for no particular reason and with no hope of repayment. It is literally an act of grace.

[19:17]  ² tn The form מַלְוֵה (malveh) is the Hiphil participle from לָוָה (lavah) in construct; it means “to cause to borrow; to lend.” The expression here is “lender of the Lord.” The person who helps the poor becomes the creditor of God.

[19:17]  ³ tn Heb “he.” The referent of the 3rd person masculine singular pronoun is “the Lord” in the preceding line, which has been supplied here in the translation for clarity.

[19:17]  ⁴ sn The promise of reward does not necessarily mean that the person who gives to the poor will get money back; the rewards in the book of Proverbs involve life and prosperity in general.

[19:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “and his good deed will repay him.” The word גְּמֻלוֹ (gÿmulo) could be (1) the subject or (2) part of a double accusative of the verb. Understanding it as part of the double accusative makes better sense, for then the subject of the verb is God. How “his deed” could repay him is not immediately obvious.

[20:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “his garment.”

[20:16]  ⁷ sn Taking a garment was the way of holding someone responsible to pay debts. In fact, the garment was the article normally taken for security (Exod 22:24-26; Deut 24:10-13). Because this is a high risk security pledge (e.g., 6:1-5), the creditor is to deal more severely than when the pledge is given by the debtor for himself.

[20:16]  ⁸ tc The Kethib has the masculine plural form, נָכְרִים (nakhrim), suggesting a reading “strangers.” But the Qere has the feminine form נָכְרִיָּה (nakhriyyah), “strange woman” or “another man’s wife” (e.g., 27:13). The parallelism would suggest “strangers” is the correct reading, although theories have been put forward for the interpretation of “strange woman” (see below).

[20:16]  ⁹ tn M. Dahood argues that the cloak was taken in pledge for a harlot (cf. NIV “a wayward woman”). Two sins would then be committed: taking a cloak and going to a prostitute (“To Pawn One’s Cloak,” Bib 42 [1961]: 359-66; also Snijders, “The Meaning of זָר,” 85-86). In the MT the almost identical proverb in 27:13 has a feminine singular form here.

[20:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “hold it” (so NIV, NCV).

[25:14]  ¹¹ sn The emblem now is one of clouds and winds that would be expected to produce rain; they gain attention and raise people’s expectations but prove to be disappointing when no rain is forthcoming, and hence could be thought of as deceitful.

[25:14]  ¹² tn The form מִתְהַלֵּל (mithallel) is the Hitpael participle of the well-known word for “praise”; but in this stem it means “to praise oneself” or “to boast.” The description of “windbag” seems appropriate in this context.

[25:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “a gift of falsehood.” This would mean that the individual brags about giving a gift, when there is no gift.

[27:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his garment.”

[27:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for a strange (= adulterous) woman.” Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NLT; NIV “a wayward woman.”

[27:13]  ¹⁸ tn This proverb is virtually identical to 20:16.