Proverbs 3:23-25

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 3:23 sn Heb “You will not strike your foot.” What the foot strikes (cf. Ps 91:12 “against a stone”) is omitted but something is implied. This is a figure (hypocatastasis) comparing stumbling on a stone in the path to making serious mistakes in life that bring harm.
2. Proverbs 3:24 tn The particle אִם (ʾim, “if”) here functions in its rare temporal sense (“when”) followed by an imperfect tense (e.g., Num 36:4; BDB 50 s.v. 1.b.4.b).
3. Proverbs 3:24 tc The LXX reads “sit down,” presumably from תֵּשֵׁב (teshev) while the MT reads תִּשְׁכַּב (tishkav, “lie down”). Either the LXX translator worked from a text which had lost the כ (kaf) or the MT copyist had a damaged text and restored a verb from the root שָׁכַב (shakav, “to lie down”) based on the following verb. The text restored from the LXX would present a progression from walking (v. 23), to sitting, to lying down: “When you sit down, you will not fear, then you will lie down and your sleep will be pleasant.”
4. Proverbs 3:24 tn Heb “will not have dread.” The verb פָּחַד (pakhad, “tremble, shake with fear”) describes emotion that is stronger than mere fear—it is dread.
5. Proverbs 3:24 tn The verb עָרְבָה (ʿar^evah) is from III עָרַב (ʿarav, “to be sweet; to be pleasing; to be pleasant”; BDB 787 s.v. III עָרַב). It should not be confused with the other five homonymic roots that are also spelled עָרַב (see BDB 786-88).
6. Proverbs 3:25 sn The negative exhortation with the jussive verb אַל־תִּירָא (ʾal tiraʾ, “do not be afraid”) is based in part on the assurances given in vv. 23-24 but is directly tied to v. 26.
7. Proverbs 3:25 tn Heb “terror of suddenness.” The noun פִּתְאֹם (pitʾom, “sudden”) functions as an attributive genitive: “sudden terror” (e.g., Job 22:10; BDB 837 s.v.).
8. Proverbs 3:25 tn Heb “terror.” The noun פַּחַד (pakhad, “terror”) is a metonymy of effect for cause (= disaster); see BDB 808 s.v. 2. This is suggested by the parallelism with the noun מִשֹּׁאַת (mishoʾat, “destruction”) in the following colon. The term פַּחַד (“terror”) often refers to the object (or cause) of terror (e.g., Job 3:25; 15:21; 22:10; 31:23; Pss 31:12; 36:2; Isa 24:18; Jer 48:44).
9. Proverbs 3:25 tn Heb “or the destruction of the wicked when it comes.” The noun רְשָׁעִים (r^eshaʿim, “wicked ones”) probably functions as an objective genitive (the destruction that comes on the wicked) or a genitive of source (the destruction that the wicked bring on others).