Proverbs 10:1-3

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 10:1 sn Beginning with ch. 10 there is a difference in the form of the material contained in the book of Proverbs. No longer are there long admonitions, but the actual proverbs, short aphorisms dealing with right or wrong choices. Other than a few similar themes grouped together here and there, there is no arrangement to the material as a whole. It is a long collection of approximately 400 proverbs.
2. Proverbs 10:1 tn Heb “son.”
3. Proverbs 10:1 tn The imperfect tense describes progressive or habitual action, translated here with an English present tense. These fit the nature of proverbs which are general maxims, and not necessarily absolutes or universal truths. One may normally expect to find what the proverb notes, and one should live according to its instructions in the light of those expectations, but one should not be surprised if from time to time there is an exception. The fact that there may be an exception does not diminish the need to live by the sayings.
4. Proverbs 10:1 tn Heb “son.”
5. Proverbs 10:1 tn Heb “grief of his mother.” The noun “grief” is in construct, and “mother” is an objective genitive. The saying declares that the consequences of wisdom or folly affects the parents.
6. Proverbs 10:2 tn Heb “treasures of wickedness” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “Ill-gotten gains”; TEV “Wealth that you get by dishonesty.”
7. Proverbs 10:2 sn The term “righteousness” here means honesty (cf. TEV). Wealth has limited value even if gained honestly, but honesty delivers from mortal danger.
8. Proverbs 10:2 tn Heb “death.” This could refer to literal death, but it is probably figurative here for mortal danger or ruin.
9. Proverbs 10:3 tn Heb “does not allow…to go hungry.” The expression “The Lord does not allow the appetite of the righteous to go hungry” is an example of tapeinosis—a figurative expression stated in the negative to emphasize the positive: The Lord satisfies the appetite of the righteous.
10. Proverbs 10:3 tn The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) means “soul” but its root meaning is “throat” and it has a broad range of meanings; here it denotes “appetite” (BDB 660 s.v. 5.a; see, e.g., Pss 63:6; 107:9; Prov 27:7; Isa 56:11; 58:10; Jer 50:19; Ezek 7:19). The term could denote “desire” (BDB 660 s.v. 6.a) which would include the inner urge for success. By contrast, the wicked live unfulfilled lives—as far as spiritual values are concerned.
11. Proverbs 10:3 tn Heb “thrusts away” (cf. ASV, NASB); NLT “refuses to satisfy.” The verb הָדַף (hadaf) means “to thrust away; to push; to drive,” either to depose or reject (BDB 213 s.v.).
12. Proverbs 10:3 tn This verse contrasts the “appetite” of the righteous with the “craving” of the wicked. This word הַוַּה (havvah, “craving”) means “desire” often in a bad sense, as ‘the desire of the wicked,” which could not be wholesome (Ps 52:9).