Proverbs 6:14

6:14 he plots evil with perverse thoughts ¹  in his heart,

he spreads contention ²  at all times.

Proverbs 6:19

6:19 a false witness who pours out lies, ³ 

and a person who spreads discord ⁴  among family members. ⁵ 

Proverbs 15:18

15:18 A quick-tempered person ⁶  stirs up dissension,

but one who is slow to anger ⁷  calms ⁸  a quarrel. ⁹ 

Proverbs 18:8

18:8 The words of a gossip ¹⁰  are like choice morsels; ¹¹ 

they go down into the person’s innermost being. ¹² 

Proverbs 26:20-22

26:20 Where there is no wood, a fire goes out,

and where there is no gossip, ¹³  contention ceases. ¹⁴ 

26:21 Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire,

so is a contentious person ¹⁵  to kindle strife. ¹⁶ 

26:22 The words of a gossip are like delicious morsels;

they go down into a person’s innermost being. ¹⁷ 

Proverbs 29:22

29:22 An angry person ¹⁸  stirs up dissension,

and a wrathful person ¹⁹  is abounding in transgression. ²⁰ 

Proverbs 30:33

30:33 For as the churning ²¹  of milk produces butter

and as punching the nose produces blood,

so stirring up anger ²²  produces strife. ²³ 

Proverbs 30:1

The Words of Agur ²⁴ 

30:1 The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh; an oracle: ²⁵ 

This ²⁶  man says ²⁷  to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ukal: ²⁸ 

Proverbs 6:3-5

6:3 then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, ²⁹ 

because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power: ³⁰ 

go, humble yourself, ³¹ 

and appeal firmly ³²  to your neighbor.

6:4 Permit no sleep to your eyes ³³ 

or slumber to your eyelids.

6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, ³⁴ 

and like a bird from the trap ³⁵  of the fowler.

James 3:14-16

3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such ³⁶  wisdom does not come ³⁷  from above but is earthly, natural, ³⁸  demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.

[6:14]  ¹ tn The noun is an adverbial accusative of manner, explaining the circumstances that inform his evil plans.

[6:14]  ² tn The word “contention” is from the root דִּין (din); the noun means “strife, contention, quarrel.” The normal plural form is represented by the Qere, and the contracted form by the Kethib.

[6:19]  ³ sn The Lord hates perjury and a lying witness (e.g., Ps 40:4; Amos 2:4; Mic 1:4). This is a direct violation of the law (Exod 20).

[6:19]  ⁴ sn Dissension is attributed in Proverbs to contentious people (21:9; 26:21; 25:24) who have a short fuse (15:8).

[6:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “brothers,” although not limited to male siblings only. Cf. NRSV, CEV “in a family”; TEV “among friends.”

[15:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “a man of wrath”; KJV, ASV “a wrathful man.” The term “wrath” functions as an attributive genitive: “an angry person.” He is contrasted with the “slow of anger,” so he is a “quick-tempered person” (cf. NLT “a hothead”).

[15:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “slow of anger.” The noun “anger” functions as a genitive of specification: slow in reference to anger, that is, slow to get angry, patient.

[15:18]  ⁸ tn The Hiphil verb יַשְׁקִיט (yashqit) means “to cause quietness; to pacify; to allay” the strife or quarrel (cf. NAB “allays discord”). This type of person goes out of his way to keep things calm and minimize contention; his opposite thrives on disagreement and dispute.

[15:18]  ⁹ sn The fact that רִיב (riv) is used for “quarrel; strife” strongly implies that the setting is the courtroom or other legal setting (the gates of the city). The hot-headed person is eager to turn every disagreement into a legal case.

[18:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “slanderer”; KJV, NAB “talebearer”; ASV, NRSV “whisperer.”

[18:8]  ¹¹ tn The word כְּמִתְלַהֲמִים (kÿmitlahamim) occurs only here. It is related to a cognate verb meaning “to swallow greedily.” Earlier English versions took it from a Hebrew root הָלַם (halam, see the word לְמַהֲלֻמוֹת [lÿmahalumot] in v. 6) meaning “wounds” (so KJV). But the translation of “choice morsels” fits the idea of gossip better.

[18:8]  ¹² tn Heb “they go down [into] the innermost parts of the belly”; NASB “of the body.”

[26:20]  ¹³ sn Gossip (that is, the one who goes around whispering and slandering) fuels contention just as wood fuels a fire. The point of the proverb is to prevent contention – if one takes away the cause, contention will cease (e.g., 18:8).

[26:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “becomes silent.”

[26:21]  ¹⁵ sn Heb “a man of contentions”; NCV, NRSV, NLT “a quarrelsome person.” The expression focuses on the person who is contentious by nature. His quarreling is like piling fuel on a fire that would otherwise go out. This kind of person not only starts strife, but keeps it going.

[26:21]  ¹⁶ tn The Pilpel infinitive construct לְחַרְחַר (lÿkharkhar) from חָרַר (kharar, “to be hot; to be scorched; to burn”) means “to kindle; to cause to flare up.”

[26:22]  ¹⁷ tn The proverb is essentially the same as 18:8; it observes how appealing gossip is.

[29:22]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a man of anger.” Here “anger” is an attributive (“an angry man”). This expression describes one given to or characterized by anger, not merely temporarily angry. The same is true of the next description.

[29:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “possessor of wrath.” Here “wrath” is an attributive (cf. ASV “a wrathful man”; KJV “a furious man”).

[29:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “an abundance of transgression.” The phrase means “abounding in transgression” (BDB 913 s.v. רַב 1.d]). Not only does the angry person stir up dissension, but he also frequently causes sin in himself and in others (e.g., 14:17, 29; 15:18; 16:32; 22:24).

[30:33]  ²¹ tn This line provides the explanation for the instruction to keep silent in the previous verse. It uses two images to make the point, and in so doing repeats two words throughout. The first is the word מִיץ (mits), which is translated (in sequence) “churning,” “punching,” and “stirring up.” The form is a noun, and BDB 568 s.v. suggests translating it as “squeezing” in all three places, even in the last where it describes the pressure or the insistence on strife. This noun occurs only here. The second repeated word, the verb יוֹצִיא (yotsir), also occurs three times; it is the Hiphil imperfect, meaning “produces” (i.e., causes to go out).

[30:33]  ²² sn There is a subtle wordplay here with the word for anger: It is related to the word for nose in the preceding colon.

[30:33]  ²³ sn The analogy indicates that continuously pressing certain things will yield results, some good, some bad. So pressing anger produces strife. The proverb advises people to strive for peace and harmony through humility and righteousness. To do that will require “letting up” on anger.

[30:1]  ²⁴ sn This chapter has a title (30:1), Agur’s confession and petition (30:2-9), and a series of Agur’s admonitions (30:10-33).

[30:1]  ²⁵ tn The title הַמַּשָּׂא (hammasa’) means “the burden,” a frequently used title in prophetic oracles. It may be that the word is a place name, although it is more likely that it describes what follows as an important revelation.

[30:1]  ²⁶ tn The definite article is used here as a demonstrative, clarifying the reference to Agur.

[30:1]  ²⁷ sn The word translated “says” (נְאֻם, nÿ’um) is a verbal noun; it is also a term that describes an oracle. It is usually followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of this man to Ithiel.”

[30:1]  ²⁸ tn There have been numerous attempts to reinterpret the first two verses of the chapter. The Greek version translated the names “Ithiel” and “Ukal,” resulting in “I am weary, O God, I am weary and faint” (C. C. Torrey, “Proverbs Chapter 30,” JBL 73 [1954]: 93-96). The LXX’s approach is followed by some English versions (e.g., NRSV, NLT). The Midrash tried through a clever etymologizing translation to attribute the works to Solomon (explained by W. G. Plaut, Proverbs, 299). It is most likely that someone other than Solomon wrote these sayings; they have a different, almost non-proverbial, tone to them. See P. Franklyn, “The Sayings of Agur in Proverbs 30: Piety or Skepticism,” ZAW 95 (1983): 239-52.

[6:3]  ²⁹ tn The syntactical construction of imperative followed by an imperative + vav consecutive denotes purpose: “in order to be delivered.” The verb means “to deliver oneself, be delivered” in the Niphal. The image is one of being snatched or plucked quickly out of some danger or trouble, in the sense of a rescue, as in a “brand snatched [Hophal stem] from the fire” (Zech 3:2).

[6:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “have come into the hand of your neighbor” (so NASB; cf. KJV, ASV). The idiom using the “hand” means that the individual has come under the control or the power of someone else. This particular word for hand is used to play ironically on its first occurrence in v. 1.

[6:3]  ³¹ tn In the Hitpael the verb רָפַס (rafas) means “to stamp oneself down” or “to humble oneself” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV). BDB 952 s.v. Hithp suggests “become a suppliant.” G. R. Driver related it to the Akkadian cognate rapasu, “trample,” and interpreted as trampling oneself, swallowing pride, being unremitting in effort (“Some Hebrew Verbs, Nouns, and Pronouns,” JTS 30 [1929]: 374).

[6:3]  ³² tn Heb “be bold.” The verb רָהַב (rahav) means “to act stormily; to act boisterously; to act arrogantly.” The idea here is a strong one: storm against (beset, importune) your neighbor. The meaning is that he should be bold and not take no for an answer. Cf. NIV “press your plea”; TEV “beg him to release you.”

[6:4]  ³³ tn Heb “do not give sleep to your eyes.” The point is to go to the neighbor and seek release from the agreement immediately (cf. NLT “Don’t rest until you do”).

[6:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from the hand.” Most translations supply “of the hunter.” The word “hand” can signify power, control; so the meaning is that of a gazelle freeing itself from a snare or a trap that a hunter set.

[6:5]  ³⁵ tc Heb “hand” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV). Some mss and versions have it as “trap,” which may very well represent an interpretation too.

[3:15]  ³⁶ tn Grk “This.”

[3:15]  ³⁷ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

[3:15]  ³⁸ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.