Kejadian 11:6

11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ¹  they have begun to do this, then ²  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ³ 

Kejadian 11:1

The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel

11:1 The whole earth ⁴  had a common language and a common vocabulary. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 2:16

2:16 If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ⁶  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

Amsal 14:16

14:16 A wise person is cautious ⁷  and turns from evil,

but a fool throws off restraint ⁸  and is overconfident. ⁹ 

Amsal 17:12

17:12 It is better for a person to meet ¹⁰  a mother bear being robbed of her cubs,

than ¹¹  to encounter ¹²  a fool in his folly. ¹³ 

Amsal 27:3

27:3 A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,

but vexation ¹⁴  by a fool is more burdensome ¹⁵  than the two of them.

Pengkhotbah 9:3

9:3 This is the unfortunate fact ¹⁶  about everything that happens on earth: ¹⁷ 

the same fate awaits ¹⁸  everyone.

In addition to this, the hearts of all people ¹⁹  are full of evil,

and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die. ²⁰ 

Pengkhotbah 10:13

10:13 At the beginning his words ²¹  are foolish

and at the end ²²  his talk ²³  is wicked madness, ²⁴ 

Daniel 3:19-22

3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed ²⁵  toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders ²⁶  to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated. 3:20 He ordered strong ²⁷  soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 3:21 So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, ²⁸  and were thrown into the furnace ²⁹  of blazing fire. 3:22 But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted ³⁰  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed ³¹  by the leaping flames. ³² 

[11:6]  ¹ tn Heb “and one lip to all of them.”

[11:6]  ² tn Heb “and now.” The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered “If this…then now.”

[11:6]  ³ tn Heb “all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them.”

[11:1]  ⁴ sn The whole earth. Here “earth” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, “The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9,” BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.

[11:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “one lip and one [set of] words.” The term “lip” is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term “words” refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.

[2:16]  ⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss (“no”) rather than the Kethib and MT, which read “to him.”

[14:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “fears.” Since the holy name (Yahweh, translated “the Lord”) is not used, it probably does not here mean fear of the Lord, but of the consequences of actions.

[14:16]  ⁸ tn The Hitpael of עָבַר (’avar, “to pass over”) means “to pass over the bounds of propriety; to act insolently” (BDB 720 s.v.; cf. ASV “beareth himself insolently”).

[14:16]  ⁹ tn The verb בָּטַח here denotes self-assurance or overconfidence. Fools are not cautious and do not fear the consequences of their actions.

[17:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Let a man meet” (so NASB); NLT “It is safer to meet.” The infinitive absolute פָּגוֹשׁ (pagosh, “to meet”) functions as a jussive of advice. The bear meeting a man is less dangerous than a fool in his folly. It could be worded as a “better” saying, but that formula is not found here.

[17:12]  ¹¹ tn The second colon begins with וְאַל (vÿ’al), “and not.” This negative usually appears with volitives, so the fuller expression of the parallel line would be “and let not a fool in his folly [meet someone].”

[17:12]  ¹² tn The words “to meet” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied by the parallelism and are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:12]  ¹³ sn The human, who is supposed to be rational and intelligent, in such folly becomes more dangerous than the beast that in this case acts with good reason. As R. L. Alden comments, “Consider meeting a fool with a knife, or gun, or even behind the wheel of a car” (Proverbs, 134). See also E. Loewenstamm, “Remarks on Proverbs 17:12 and 20:27,” VT 37 (1967): 221-24. For a slightly different nuance cf. TEV “some fool busy with a stupid project.”

[27:3]  ¹⁴ tn The subject matter is the vexation produced by a fool. The term כַּעַס (ca’as) means “vexation” (ASV); provocation” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); “anger” (KJV “wrath”) and usually refers to undeserved treatment. Cf. NLT “the resentment caused by a fool.”

[27:3]  sn The same noun is used in 1 Sam 1:6, 16 for the “provocation” given to Hannah by Peninnah for being barren.

[27:3]  ¹⁵ sn The contrast is made between dealing with the vexation of a fool and physical labor (moving stones and sand). More tiring is the vexation of a fool, for the mental and emotional effort it takes to deal with it is more draining than physical labor. It is, in the sense of this passage, almost unbearable.

[9:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “evil.”

[9:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[9:3]  ¹⁸ tn The term “awaits” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.

[9:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “also the heart of the sons of man.” Here “heart” is a collective singular.

[9:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and after that [they go] to [the place of] the dead.”

[10:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “the words of his mouth.”

[10:13]  ²² sn The terms “beginning” and “end” form a merism, a figure of speech in which two opposites are contrasted to indicate totality (e.g., Deut 6:7; Ps 139:8; Eccl 3:2-8). The words of a fool are madness from “start to finish.”

[10:13]  ²³ tn Heb “his mouth.”

[10:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “madness of evil.”

[3:19]  ²⁵ tn Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. NLT “his face became distorted with rage”; NAB “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”

[3:19]  ²⁶ tn Aram “he answered and said.”

[3:20]  ²⁷ tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”

[3:21]  ²⁸ sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.

[3:21]  ²⁹ tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

[3:22]  ³⁰ tn Aram “caused to go up.”

[3:22]  ³¹ tn The Aramaic verb is active.

[3:22]  ³² tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”