Amsal 8:25

8:25 before the mountains were set in place –

before the hills – I was born,

Amsal 3:19

3:19 By wisdom the Lord laid the foundation of the earth; ¹ 

he established the heavens by understanding. ² 

Amsal 8:29

8:29 when he gave the sea his decree

that the waters should not pass over his command, ³ 

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

Amsal 24:28

24:28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, ⁴ 

and do not deceive with your words. ⁵ 

Amsal 26:2

26:2 Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow,

so a curse without cause ⁶  does not come to rest. ⁷ 

Amsal 10:23

10:23 Carrying out a wicked scheme ⁸  is enjoyable ⁹  to a fool,

and so is wisdom for the one who has discernment. ¹⁰ 

Amsal 10:25

10:25 When the storm ¹¹  passes through, the wicked are swept away, ¹² 

but the righteous are an everlasting foundation. ¹³ 

Amsal 11:7

11:7 When a wicked person dies, his expectation perishes, ¹⁴ 

and the hope of his strength ¹⁵  perishes. ¹⁶ 

Amsal 16:2

16:2 All a person’s ways ¹⁷  seem right ¹⁸  in his own opinion, ¹⁹ 

but the Lord evaluates ²⁰  the motives. ²¹ 

Amsal 23:24

23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; ²² 

whoever fathers a wise child ²³  will have joy in him.

Amsal 26:4

26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, ²⁴ 

lest you yourself also be like him. ²⁵ 

Amsal 24:11

24:11 Deliver those being taken away to death,

and hold back those slipping to the slaughter. ²⁶ 

[3:19]  ¹ tn Heb “founded the earth.” The verb יָסַד (yasad, “to establish; to found”) describes laying the foundation of a building (1 Kgs 5:31 [HT]; 7:10; 2 Chr 3:3; Ezra 3:10-12; Zech 4:9) and God laying the foundation of the earth (Job 38:4; Pss 24:2; 89:12; 102:26; 104:5; Isa 48:13; 51:13, 16; Zech 12:1).

[3:19]  ² sn The theme of God’s use of wisdom in creation is developed in Prov 8:22-31. Because God established the world to operate according to the principle of wisdom it is impossible for anyone to live successfully in his world apart from the wisdom that only God can give.

[8:29]  ³ tn Heb “his mouth.”

[24:28]  ⁴ sn The legal setting of these sayings continues with this warning against being a false accuser. The “witness” in this line is one who has no basis for his testimony. “Without cause” is the adverb from חָנָן (khanan), which means “to be gracious.” The adverb means “without a cause; gratis; free.” It is also cognate to the word חֵן (“grace” or “unmerited [or, undeserved] favor.” The connotation is that the opposite is due. So the adverb would mean that there was no cause, no justification for the witness, but that the evidence seemed to lie on the other side.

[24:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause; it means “what is said.” Here it refers to what is said in court as a false witness.

[26:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “causeless curse” (KJV similar) describes an undeserved curse (cf. NIV, NRSV). The Hebrew word translated “causeless” is the adverb from ָחנַן (khanan); it means “without cause; gratuitous.”

[26:2]  sn This proverb is saying that a curse that is uttered will be powerless if that curse is undeserved. It was commonly believed in the ancient world that blessings and curses had power in themselves, that once spoken they were effectual. But scripture makes it clear that the power of a blessing or a curse depends on the power of the one behind it (e.g., Num 22:38; 23:8). A curse would only take effect if the one who declared it had the authority to do so, and he would only do that if the curse was deserved.

[26:2]  ⁷ tc The MT has the negative with the verb “to enter; to come” to mean “will not come” (לֹא תָבֹא, lo’ tavo’). This is interpreted to mean “will not come to rest” or “will not come home.” Some commentators have taken the Qere reading of לוֹ (lo) instead, and read it as “will come home to him.” This is also a little difficult; but it gives the idea that an undeserved curse will come [back] to him [who gave it]. Just as a bird will fly around and eventually come home, so will the undeserved curse return on the one who gave it. This is plausible; but there is no referent for the suffix, making it syntactically difficult.

[10:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “doing a plan.” The noun זִמָּה (zimmah, “plan”) is often used pejoratively of a scheme to do wickedness. It is used elsewhere for planning lewdness, murder, incest, adultery, idolatry, and licentiousness. Any planned gross impropriety gives the fool pleasure. The verb עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) here means “to carry out (a plan)” (BDB 794 s.v.).

[10:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “like sport” (so NASB, NRSV). The noun שְׂחוֹק (sÿkhoq, “sport”) is used elsewhere to refer to what is exhilarating and pleasurable (BDB 966 s.v.). As W. G. Plaut says, it is like child’s play (Proverbs, 132). For the fool evil brings such enjoyment; for the discerning wisdom does.

[10:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a man of discernment.”

[10:25]  ¹¹ sn The word for “storm wind” comes from the root סוּף (suf, “to come to an end; to cease”). The noun may then describe the kind of storm that makes an end of things, a “whirlwind” (so KJV, NASB; NLT “cyclone”). It is used in prophetic passages that describe swift judgment and destruction.

[10:25]  ¹² tn Heb “the wicked are not”; ASV, NAB, NASB “is no more.”

[10:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “a foundation forever”; NLT “have a lasting foundation.”

[10:25]  sn The metaphor compares the righteous to an everlasting foundation to stress that they are secure when the catastrophes of life come along. He is fixed in a covenantal relationship and needs not to fear passing misfortunes. The wicked has no such security.

[11:7]  ¹⁴ tn The first colon features an imperfect tense depicting habitual action, while the second has a perfect tense verb depicting gnomic action.

[11:7]  sn The subject of this proverb is the hope of the wicked, showing its consequences – his expectations die with him (Ps 49). Any hope for long life and success borne of wickedness will be disappointed.

[11:7]  ¹⁵ tc There are several suggested changes for this word אוֹנִים (’onim, “vigor” or “strength”). Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 1040-1105, suggests that the word refers to children, a meaning implied from Gen 49:3. This would mean that even his children would not benefit from his wickedness. Tg. Prov 11:7 rendered it “who practice crookedness,” deriving it from the first root which means “wickedness.”

[11:7]  ¹⁶ tc The LXX adds an antithesis to this: “When the righteous dies, hope does not perish.” The LXX translators wanted to see the hope of the righteous fulfilled in the world to come.

[16:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “ways of a man.”

[16:2]  ¹⁸ sn The Hebrew term translated “right” (z~E) means “innocent” (NIV) or “pure” (NAB, NRSV, NLT). It is used in the Bible for pure oils or undiluted liquids; here it means unmixed actions. Therefore on the one hand people rather naively conclude that their actions are fine.

[16:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in his eyes.”

[16:2]  ²⁰ tn The figure (a hypocatastasis) of “weighing” signifies “evaluation” (e.g., Exod 5:8; 1 Sam 2:3; 16:7; Prov 21:2; 24:12). There may be an allusion to the Egyptian belief of weighing the heart after death to determine righteousness. But in Hebrew thought it is an ongoing evaluation as well, not merely an evaluation after death.

[16:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “spirits” (so KJV, ASV). This is a metonymy for the motives, the intentions of the heart (e.g., 21:2 and 24:2).

[16:2]  sn Humans deceive themselves rather easily and so appear righteous in their own eyes; but the proverb says that God evaluates motives and so he alone can determine if the person’s ways are innocent.

[23:24]  ²² tc The Qere reading has the imperfect יָגִיל (yagil) with the cognate accusative גִּיל (gil) which intensifies the meaning and the specific future of this verb.

[23:24]  ²³ tn The term “child” is supplied for the masculine singular adjective here.

[26:4]  ²⁴ sn One should not answer a fool’s foolish questions in line with the fool’s mode of reasoning (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 274).

[26:4]  ²⁵ sn The person who descends to the level of a fool to argue with him only looks like a fool as well.

[24:11]  ²⁶ tn The idea of “slipping” (participle from מוֹט, mot) has troubled some commentators. G. R. Driver emends it to read “at the point of” (“Problems in Proverbs,” ZAW 50 [1932]: 146). But the MT as it stands makes good sense. The reference would be general, viz., to help any who are in mortal danger or who might be tottering on the edge of such disaster – whether through sin, or through disease, war, or danger. Several English versions (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) render this term as “staggering.”

[24:11]  sn God holds people responsible for rescuing those who are in mortal danger. The use of “death” and “slaughter” seems rather strong in the passage, but they have been used before in the book for the destruction that comes through evil.