Proverbs 20:6

20:6 Many people profess their loyalty, ¹ 

but a faithful person ²  – who can find? ³ 

Proverbs 31:29

31:29 “Many ⁴  daughters ⁵  have done valiantly, ⁶ 

but you surpass them all!”

Proverbs 2:20

2:20 So ⁷  you will walk in the way of good people, ⁸ 

and will keep on the paths of the righteous. ⁹ 

Proverbs 13:22

13:22 A benevolent ¹⁰  person leaves an inheritance ¹¹  for his grandchildren, ¹² 

but the wealth of a sinner is stored up for the righteous. ¹³ 

[20:6]  ¹ tn Heb “many a man calls/proclaims a man of his loyal love.” The Syriac and Tg. Prov 20:6 render the verb as passive: “many are called kind.” Other suggestions include: “most men meet people who will do them occasional kindnesses” (RSV); “many men profess friendship” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 384); “many men invite only the one who has shown them kindness.” The simplest interpretation in this context is “many proclaim [themselves to be] a kind person (= a loyal friend).” The contrast is between many who claim to be loyal friends and the one who actually proves to be faithful.

[20:6]  ² tn The shift to the expression “a man of faithfulness[es]” in the second line indicates that of all those who claim to show faithful love, it is rare to find one who is truly reliable (as the word אֱמוּנִים [’emunim] indicates clearly); cf. NAB, NRSV “one worthy of trust.”

[20:6]  ³ sn The point of the rhetorical question is that a truly faithful friend is very difficult to find.

[31:29]  ⁴ tn The first word of the twentieth line begins with ר (resh), the twentieth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:29]  ⁵ tn Or “women” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[31:29]  ⁶ tn The word is the same as in v. 10, “noble, valiant.”

[2:20]  ⁷ tn The conjunction לְמַעַן (lÿma’an, “so; as a result”) introduces the concluding result (BDB 775 s.v. מַעַן 2; HALOT 614 s.v. מַעַן 2.c) of heeding the admonition to attain wisdom (2:1-11) and to avoid the evil men and women and their destructive ways (2:12-19).

[2:20]  ⁸ tn The noun “good” (טוֹבִים, tovim) does not function as an attributive genitive (“the good way”) because it is a plural noun and the term “way” (דֶרֶךְ, derekh) is singular. Rather it functions as a genitive of possession identifying the people who walk on this path: “the way of the good people.”

[2:20]  ⁹ tn In the light of the parallelism, the noun “righteous” (צַדִּיקִים, tsadiqim) functions as a genitive of possession rather than an attributive genitive.

[13:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “good.”

[13:22]  ¹¹ sn In ancient Israel the idea of leaving an inheritance was a sign of God’s blessing; blessings extended to the righteous and not the sinners.

[13:22]  ¹² tn Heb “the children of children.”

[13:22]  ¹³ sn In the ultimate justice of God, the wealth of the wicked goes to the righteous after death (e.g., Ps 49:10, 17).