Amsal 27:20

27:20 As ¹  Death and Destruction are never satisfied, ² 

so the eyes of a person ³  are never satisfied. ⁴ 

Amsal 29:9

29:9 If a wise person ⁵  goes to court ⁶  with a foolish person,

there is no peace ⁷  whether he is angry or laughs. ⁸ 

[27:20]  ¹ tn The term “as” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation in light of the analogy.

[27:20]  ² sn Countless generations of people have gone into the world below; yet “death” is never satisfied – it always takes more. The line personifies Death and Destruction. It forms the emblem in the parallelism.

[27:20]  ³ tn Heb “eyes of a man.” This expression refers to the desires – what the individual looks longingly on. Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:34 (one of the rabbinic Midrashim) says, “No man dies and has one-half of what he wanted.”

[27:20]  ⁴ tc The LXX contains a scribal addition: “He who fixes his eye is an abomination to the Lord, and the uninstructed do not restrain their tongues.” This is unlikely to be original.

[29:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “a wise man…a foolish man.”

[29:9]  ⁶ tn The verb שָׁפַט (shafat) means “to judge.” In the Niphal stem it could be passive, but is more frequently reciprocal: “to enter into controversy” or “to go to court.” The word is usually used in connection with a lawsuit (so many recent English versions), but can also refer to an argument (e.g., 1 Sam 12:7; Isa 43:26); cf. NAB “disputes”; NASB “has a controversy.”

[29:9]  ⁷ tn The noun נָחַת (nakhat) is a derivative of נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and so means “quietness” or “rest,” i.e., “peace.”

[29:9]  sn The proverb is saying that there will be no possibility of settling the matter in a calm way, no matter what mood the fool is in (e.g., Prov 26:4). R. N. Whybray says one can only cut the losses and have no further dealings with the fool (Proverbs [CBC], 168).

[29:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he is angry and he laughs.” The construction uses the conjunctive vav to express alternate actions: “whether…or.”