Amsal 15:6

15:6 In the house ¹  of the righteous is abundant wealth, ² 

but the income of the wicked brings trouble. ³ 

Amsal 20:13

20:13 Do not love sleep, ⁴  lest you become impoverished;

open your eyes so that ⁵  you might be satisfied with food. ⁶ 

Amsal 25:16

25:16 When you find ⁷  honey, eat only what is sufficient for you,

lest you become stuffed ⁸  with it and vomit it up. ⁹ 

Amsal 29:2

29:2 When the righteous become numerous, ¹⁰  the people rejoice;

when the wicked rule, the people groan. ¹¹ 

[15:6]  ¹ tn The term בֵּית (bet, “house”) functions as an adverbial accusative of location.

[15:6]  ² sn The Hebrew noun חֹסֶן (khosen) means “wealth; treasure.” Prosperity is the reward for righteousness. This is true only in so far as a proverb can be carried in its application, allowing for exceptions. The Greek text for this verse has no reference for wealth, but talks about amassing righteousness.

[15:6]  ³ tn Heb “will be troubled.” The function of the Niphal participle may be understood in two ways: (1) substantival use: abstract noun meaning “disturbance, calamity” (BDB 747 s.v. עָכַר) or passive noun meaning “thing troubled,” or (2) verbal use: “will be troubled” (HALOT 824 s.v. עכר nif).

[20:13]  ⁴ sn The proverb uses antithetical parallelism to teach that diligence leads to prosperity. It contrasts loving sleep with opening the eyes, and poverty with satisfaction. Just as “sleep” can be used for slothfulness or laziness, so opening the eyes can represent vigorous, active conduct. The idioms have caught on in modern usage as well – things like “open your eyes” or “asleep on the job.”

[20:13]  ⁵ tn The second line uses two imperatives in a sequence (without the vav [ו]): “open your eyes” and then (or, in order that) you will “be satisfied.”

[20:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “bread” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV), although the term often serves in a generic sense for food in general.

[25:16]  ⁷ tn The verse simply begins “you have found honey.” Some turn this into an interrogative clause for the condition laid down (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NLT); most make the form in some way subordinate to the following instruction: “when you find…eat.”

[25:16]  ⁸ tn The verb means “to be satisfied; to be sated; to be filled.” Here it means more than satisfied, since it describes one who overindulges and becomes sick. The English verb “stuffed” conveys this idea well.

[25:16]  ⁹ sn The proverb warns that anything overindulged in can become sickening. The verse uses formal parallelism to express first the condition and then its consequences. It teaches that moderation is wise in the pleasures of life.

[29:2]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew form בִּרְבוֹת (birvot) is the Qal infinitive construct of רָבָה (ravah) with a בּ (bet) preposition, forming a temporal clause with a subjective genitive following it. It is paralleled in the second colon by the same construction, showing the antithesis: וּבִמְשֹׁל (uvimshol), “and when the wicked rule.” Some commentators wish to change the first verb to make it parallel this more closely, e.g., רָדָה (radah, “to rule”), but that would be too neat and is completely unsupported. The contrast is between when the righteous increase and when the wicked rule. It is not hard to see how this contrast works out in society.

[29:2]  ¹¹ tn The Niphal verb אָנַח (’anakh) means “to sigh; to groan,” usually because of grief or physical and emotional distress. The word is a metonymy of effect; the cause is the oppression and distress due to evil rulers.