Proverbs 3:23

3:23 Then you will walk on your way ¹  with security,

and you ²  will not stumble. ³ 

Proverbs 7:25

7:25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways –

do not wander into her pathways;

Proverbs 19:15

19:15 Laziness brings on ⁴  a deep sleep, ⁵ 

and the idle person ⁶  will go hungry. ⁷ 

Proverbs 23:10

23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone,

or take over ⁸  the fields of the fatherless,

[3:23]  ¹ tn The noun דַּרְכֶּךָ (darkekha, “your way”) functions as an adverbial accusative of location: “on your way.”

[3:23]  ² tn Heb “your foot.” The term רַגְלְךָ (raglÿkha, “your foot”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= foot) for the whole person (= you).

[3:23]  ³ sn The verb נָגַף (ragaf, “to strike; to smite”) sometimes means “to stumble” against a stone (e.g., Ps 91:12). Here the object (“stone”) is implied (BDB 619 s.v.). This is a figure (hypocatastasis) comparing stumbling on a stone in the path to making serious mistakes in life that bring harm.

[19:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “causes to fall” or “casts”; NAB “plunges…into.”

[19:15]  ⁵ tn Or “complete inactivity”; the word תַּרְדֵּמָה (tardemah) can refer to a physical “deep sleep” (e.g., Gen 2:21; Jonah 1:5, 6); but it can also be used figuratively for complete inactivity, as other words for “sleep” can. Here it refers to lethargy or debility and morbidness.

[19:15]  ⁶ tn The expression וְנֶפֶשׁ רְמִיָּה (vÿnefesh rÿmiyyah) can be translated “the soul of deceit” or “the soul of slackness.” There are two identical feminine nouns, one from the verb “beguile,” and the other from a cognate Arabic root “grow loose.” The second is more likely here in view of the parallelism (cf. NIV “a shiftless man”; NAB “the sluggard”). One who is slack, that is, idle, will go hungry.

[19:15]  ⁷ sn The two lines are related in a metonymical sense: “deep sleep” is the cause of going hungry, and “going hungry” is the effect of deep sleep.

[23:10]  ⁷ tn Or “encroach on” (NIV, NRSV); Heb “go into.”