Proverbs 4:13

4:13 Hold on to instruction, ¹  do not let it go;

protect it, ²  because it is your life.

Proverbs 18:9

18:9 The one who ³  is slack ⁴  in his work

is a brother ⁵  to one who destroys. ⁶ 

[4:13]  ¹ tn Heb “discipline.”

[4:13]  ² tn The form נִצְּרֶהָ (nitsÿreha, from נָצַר, natsar) has an anomalous doubled letter (see GKC 73 §20.h).

[18:9]  ³ tn Heb “Also, the one who.” Many commentators and a number of English versions omit the word “also.”

[18:9]  ⁴ tn The form מִתְרַפֶּה (mitrappeh) is the Hitpael participle, “showing oneself slack.” The verb means “to sink; to relax,” and in the causative stem “to let drop” the hands. This is the lazy person who does not even try to work.

[18:9]  ⁵ sn These two troubling types, the slacker and the destroyer, are closely related.

[18:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “possessor of destruction.” This idiom means “destroyer” (so ASV); KJV “a great waster”; NRSV “a vandal.”