Proverbs 23:17-18

23:17 Do not let your heart envy ¹  sinners,

but rather be zealous in fearing the Lord ²  all the time.

23:18 For surely there is a future, ³ 

and your hope will not be cut off. ⁴ 

[23:17]  ¹ tn The verb in this line is אַל־יְקַנֵּא (’al-yÿqanne’), the Piel jussive negated. The verb means “to be jealous, to be zealous”; it describes passionate intensity for something. In English, if the object is illegitimate, it is called “envy”; if it is correct, it is called “zeal.” Here the warning is not to envy the sinners. The second colon could use the verb in the positive sense to mean “but rather let your passion burn for the fear of the Lord.”

[23:17]  ² tn Heb “the fear of the Lord.” This expression features an objective genitive: “fearing the Lord.”

[23:18]  ³ tn Heb “end” (so KJV); ASV “a reward.”

[23:18]  ⁴ sn The saying is an understatement; far from being cut off, the “hope” will be realized in the end. So this saying, the thirteenth, advises people to be zealous for the fear of the Lord, their religion, rather than for anything that sinners have to offer.