Amsal 12:10

12:10 A righteous person cares for ¹  the life of his animal,

but even the most compassionate acts ²  of the wicked are cruel.

Amsal 17:27

17:27 The truly wise person ³  restrains ⁴  his words,

and the one who stays calm ⁵  is discerning.

[12:10]  ¹ tn Heb “knows”; NLT “concerned for the welfare of.” The righteous take care of animals, not just people.

[12:10]  ² tn Heb “but the mercies.” The additional words appear in the translation for the sake of clarification. The line can be interpreted in two ways: (1) when the wicked exhibit a kind act, they do it in a cruel way, or (2) even the kindest of their acts is cruel by all assessments, e.g., stuffing animals with food to fatten them for market – their “kindness” is driven by ulterior motives (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 129).

[17:27]  ³ tn Heb “the one knowing knowledge.” The cognate accusative underscores the meaning of the participle – this is a truly knowledgeable person.

[17:27]  ⁴ sn The participle חוֹשֵׂךְ (khosekh) means “withholds; restrains; refrains; spares; holds in check,” etc. One who has knowledge speaks carefully.

[17:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “cool of spirit.” This genitive of specification describes one who is “calm” (so NCV, TEV, CEV) or “even-tempered” (so NIV, NLT); he is composed.