Proverbs 6:21

6:21 Bind them ¹  on your heart continually;

fasten them around your neck.

Proverbs 7:3

7:3 Bind them on your forearm; ² 

write them on the tablet of your heart. ³ 

Proverbs 26:14

26:14 Like ⁴  a door that turns on its hinges, ⁵ 

so a sluggard turns ⁶  on his bed.

Proverbs 29:5

29:5 The one ⁷  who flatters ⁸  his neighbor

spreads a net ⁹  for his steps. ¹⁰ 

[6:21]  ¹ sn The figures used here are hypocatastases (implied comparisons). There may also be an allusion to Deut 6 where the people were told to bind the law on their foreheads and arms. The point here is that the disciple will never be without these instructions. See further, P. W. Skehan, Studies in Israelite Poetry and Wisdom (CBQMS), 1-8.

[7:3]  ² tn Heb “fingers” (so KJV and many other English versions). In light of Deut 6:8, “fingers” appears to be a metonymy for the lower part of the arm.

[7:3]  ³ sn This is an allusion to Deut 6:8. Binding the teachings on the fingers and writing them on the tablets here are implied comparisons for preserving the teaching in memory so that it can be recalled and used with ease.

[26:14]  ³ tn The comparative “like” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied from context in the translation.

[26:14]  ⁴ sn The sluggard is too lazy to get out of bed – although he would probably rationalize this by saying that he is not at his best in the morning. The humor of the verse is based on an analogy with a door – it moves back and forth on its hinges but goes nowhere. Like the door to the wall, the sluggard is “hinged” to his bed (e.g., Prov 6:9-10; 24:33).

[26:14]  ⁵ tn The term “turns” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation from the parallelism.

[29:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “a man,” but the context here does not suggest that the proverb refers to males only.

[29:5]  ⁵ tn The form is the Hiphil participle, literally “deals smoothly,” i.e., smoothing over things that should be brought to one’s attention.

[29:5]  ⁶ sn The image of “spreading a net” for someone’s steps is an implied comparison (a figure of speech known as hypocatastasis): As one would literally spread a net, this individual’s flattery will come back to destroy him. A net would be spread to catch the prey, and so the idea is one of being caught and destroyed.

[29:5]  ⁷ tn There is some ambiguity concerning the referent of “his steps.” The net could be spread for the one flattered (cf. NRSV, “a net for the neighbor’s feet”; NLT, “their feet,” referring to others), or for the flatterer himself (cf. TEV “you set a trap for yourself”). The latter idea would make the verse more powerful: In flattering someone the flatterer is getting himself into a trap (e.g., 2:16; 7:5; 26:28; 28:23).