Proverbs 6:34

6:34 for jealousy kindles ¹  a husband’s ²  rage,

and he will not show mercy ³  when he takes revenge.

Proverbs 11:4

11:4 Wealth does not profit in the day of wrath, ⁴ 

but righteousness delivers from mortal danger. ⁵ 

Proverbs 12:16

12:16 A fool’s annoyance ⁶  is known at once, ⁷ 

but the prudent ⁸  overlooks ⁹  an insult.

Proverbs 25:19

25:19 Like a bad tooth or a foot out of joint, ¹⁰ 

so is confidence ¹¹  in an unfaithful person at the time of trouble. ¹² 

Proverbs 27:15

27:15 A continual dripping on a rainy day

and a contentious wife ¹³  are alike. ¹⁴ 

[6:34]  ¹ tn The word “kindles” was supplied in the translation; both “rage” and “jealousy” have meanings connected to heat.

[6:34]  ² tn Heb “a man’s.”

[6:34]  ³ tn The verb חָמַל (khamal) means “to show mercy; to show compassion; to show pity,” usually with the outcome of sparing or delivering someone. The idea here is that the husband will not spare the guilty man any of the punishment (cf. NRSV “he shows no restraint”).

[11:4]  ⁴ sn The “day of wrath” refers to divine punishment in this life (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 67; e.g., also Job 21:30; Ezek 7:19; Zeph 1:18). Righteousness and not wealth is more valuable in anticipating judgment.

[11:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “from death.”

[12:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “The fool, at once his vexation is known.” This rhetorically emphatic construction uses an independent nominative absolute, which is then followed by the formal subject with a suffix. The construction focuses attention on “the fool,” then states what is to be said about him.

[12:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “on the day” or “the same day.”

[12:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “shrewd.”

[12:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “covers.” The verb כָּסָה (casah) means “covers” in the sense of ignores or bides his time. The point is not that he does not respond at all, but that he is shrewd enough to handle the criticism or insult in the best way – not instinctively and irrationally.

[25:19]  ¹⁰ sn The similes in this emblematic parallelism focus on things that are incapable of performing certain activities – they are either too painful to use or are ineffective.

[25:19]  ¹¹ tn Since there is no preposition to clarify the construction, there are two ways to take the term מִבְטָח (mivtakh, “confidence”) in the context. It can either refer (1) to reliance on an unfaithful person, or it can refer (2) to that on which the unfaithful person relies. C. H. Toy argues for the second, that what the faithless person relies on will fail him in the time of trouble (Proverbs [ICC], 466). This view requires a slight change in the MT to make “confidence” a construct noun (i.e., the confidence of the faithless); the first view, which fits better the MT as it stands, says that “confidence [in] a faithless person” is like relying on a decaying tooth or a lame foot. This is the view preferred in most English versions, including the present one.

[25:19]  ¹² tn Heb “in the day of trouble”; KJV, NASB “in time of trouble.”

[27:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “a wife of contentions” (an attributive genitive). Cf. NAB, NIV “a quarrelsome wife”; NLT “a nagging wife.”

[27:15]  ¹⁴ tn The form נִשְׁתָּוָה (nishtavah) is classified by BDB as a Nitpael perfect from the root שָׁוָה (shavah, “to be like; to resemble”; BDB 1001 s.v. I שָׁוָה). The form also has metathesis before the sibilant. The LXX interprets it as “Drops drive a man out of his house on a wintry day; so a railing woman also drives him out of his own house.”