Proverbs 14:22-24

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 14:22 sn The verb חָרַשׁ (kharash) means (1) literally: “to cut in; to engrave; to plow,” describing the work of a craftsman; and (2) figuratively: “to devise,” describing the mental activity of planning evil (what will harm people) in the first colon, and planning good (what will benefit them) in the second colon.
2. Proverbs 14:22 tn The term “exhibit” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is implied by the antithetic parallelism and supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
3. Proverbs 14:22 tn Heb “loyal-love and truth.” The two terms חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת (khesed veʾemet) often form a hendiadys: “faithful love” or better “faithful covenant love.”
4. Proverbs 14:23 sn The Hebrew term עֶצֶב (ʿetsev, “painful toil; labor”) is first used in scripture in Gen 3:19 to describe the effects of the Fall. The point here is that people should be more afraid of idle talk than of hard labor.
5. Proverbs 14:23 tn Heb “word of lips.” This construct phrase features a genitive of source (“a word from the lips”) or a subjective genitive (“speaking a word”). Talk without work (which produces nothing) is contrasted with labor that produces something.
6. Proverbs 14:23 tn The term “brings” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
7. Proverbs 14:23 sn The noun מַחְסוֹר (makhsor, “need; thing needed; poverty”) comes from the verb “to lack; to be lacking; to decrease; to need.” A person given to idle talk rather than industrious work will have needs that go unmet.
8. Proverbs 14:24 tc The LXX reads πανοῦργος (panourgos, “crafty”) which suggests deleting the שׁ (shin) from עָשְׁרָם (ʿoshram, “their riches”) and reading a noun or adj. derived from the verb עָרֹם (ʿarom, “be crafty). If the first case of “folly” in the second half is also emended, the proverb would read “The crown of the wise is their craftiness, but the garland of fools is folly.”sn C. H. Toy suggests that this line probably means that wealth is an ornament to those who use it well (Proverbs [ICC], 269). J. H. Greenstone suggests that it means that the wisdom of the wise, which is their crown of glory, constitutes their wealth (Proverbs, 155).
9. Proverbs 14:24 tc The MT reads אִוֶלֶת (ʾivelet, “folly”). The editors of BHS propose emending the text to וְלִוְיַת (v^elivyat) from לִוְיָה (livyah, “wreath, garland”). This would provide the same parallelism (“garland” and “crown”) as Prov 4:9. The LXX reads διατριβὴ (diatribē, “lifestyle”). See M. Rotenberg, “The Meaning of אִוֶּלֶת in Proverbs,” LesŒ 25 (1960-1961): 201. A similar emendation is followed by NAB (“the diadem”) and NRSV (“the garland”).