Discovery BoxProverbs 19:23
Context19:23 Fearing the Lord 1 leads 2 to life, 3
and one who does so will live 4 satisfied; he will not be afflicted 5 by calamity.
Proverbs 20:4
Context20:4 The sluggard will not plow 6 during the planting season, 7
so at harvest time he looks 8 for the crop 9 but has nothing.
Proverbs 22:13
Context22:13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion 10 outside!
I will be killed in the middle of the streets!” 11
Proverbs 23:21
Context23:21 because drunkards and gluttons become impoverished,
and drowsiness 12 clothes them with rags. 13
Ecclesiastes 10:18
Context10:18 Because of laziness the roof 14 caves in,
and because of idle hands 15 the house leaks.
[19:23] 1 tn Heb “the fear of the
[19:23] 2 tn The term “leads” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and style.
[19:23] 3 tn Here “life” is probably a metonymy of subject for “blessings and prosperity in life.” The plural form often covers a person’s “lifetime.”
[19:23] 4 tn The subject of this verb is probably the one who fears the
[19:23] 5 tn Heb “he will not be visited” (so KJV, ASV). The verb פָּקַד (paqad) is often translated “visit.” It describes intervention that will change the destiny. If God “visits” it means he intervenes to bless or to curse. To be “visited by trouble” means that calamity will interfere with the course of life and change the direction or the destiny. Therefore this is not referring to a minor trouble that one might briefly experience. A life in the
[20:4] 6 sn The act of plowing is put for the whole process of planting a crop.
[20:4] 7 tn Heb “in the autumn”; ASV “by reason of the winter.” The noun means “autumn, harvest time.” The right time for planting was after the harvest and the rainy season of autumn and winter began.
[20:4] 8 tn The Piel of the verb שָׁאַל (sha’al, “to ask”) means “to beg” or “to inquire carefully.” At the harvest time he looks for produce but there is none. The Piel might suggest, however, that because he did not plant, or did not do it at the right time, he is reduced to begging and will have nothing (cf. KJV, ASV; NASB “he begs during the harvest”).
[20:4] 9 tn The phrase “for the crop” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
[22:13] 10 sn The proverb humorously describes the sluggard as making ridiculous excuses for not working – he might be eaten by a lion (e.g., 26:13). It is possible that “lion” is figurative, intended to represent someone who is like a lion, but this detracts from the humor of the exaggeration.
[22:13] 11 tc The LXX changes the phrase to read “murderers in the street” to form a better parallelism, possibly because the verb רָצַח (ratsakh) is used only of humans, not wild animals. The NIV attempts to solve the problem by making the second line a separate claim by the sluggard: “or, ‘I will be murdered in the streets!’”
[23:21] 12 tn Here “drowsiness” is a metonymy of effect or adjunct, put for the drunkenness and gluttony that causes it. So all of it, the drunkenness and the drowsiness that comes from it, brings on the ruin (cf. CEV “you will end up poor”). Likewise, “rags” is a metonymy of adjunct, associated with the poverty brought on by a dissolute lifestyle.
[23:21] 13 sn This is the fourteenth saying, warning about poor associations. Drunkenness and gluttony represent the epitome of the lack of discipline. In the Mishnah they are used to measure a stubborn and rebellious son (m. Sanhedrin 8). W. G. Plaut notes that excessive drinking and eating are usually symptoms of deeper problems; we usually focus more on the drinking because it is dangerous to others (Proverbs, 241-42).
