Proverbs 28:23-25

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 28:23 tn Or “rebukes” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
2. Proverbs 28:23 tn Heb “a man,” but the context does not indicate this should be limited only to males.
3. Proverbs 28:23 tn There is a problem with אַחֲרַי (ʾakharay), which in the MT reads “after me.” This could be taken to mean “after my instructions,” but that is forced. C. H. Toy suggests simply changing it to “after” or “afterward,” i.e., “in the end” (Proverbs [ICC], 504), a solution most English versions adopt. G. R. Driver suggested an Akkadian cognate aḫurrû, “common man,” reading “as a rebuker an ordinary man” (“Hebrew Notes,” ZAW 52 [1934]: 147). The Akkadian term can refer to a coarse, uneducated person (CAD A1: 216), if so here, then “one who rebukes a lout/oaf.”
4. Proverbs 28:23 tn The construction uses the Hiphil participle מַחֲלִיק (makhaliq, “makes smooth”) followed by the adverbial accusative of means, the metonymy “tongue”—he makes what he says smooth. This will be pleasing for the moment, but it will offer no constructive help like the rebuke would.
5. Proverbs 28:24 sn While the expression is general enough to cover any kind of robbery, the point seems to be that because it can be rationalized it may refer to prematurely trying to gain control of the family property through some form of pressure and in the process reducing the parents’ possessions and standing in the community. The culprit could claim what he does is not wrong because the estate would be his anyway.
6. Proverbs 28:24 sn The metaphor of “companion” here means that a person who would do this is just like the criminally destructive person. It is as if they were working together, for the results are the same.
7. Proverbs 28:24 tn Heb “man who destroys” (so NASB); TEV “no better than a common thief.”
8. Proverbs 28:25 tn Heb “wide of soul.” This is an idiom meaning “a greedy person.” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally, “soul”) has here its more basic meaning of appetites (a person is a soul, a bundle of appetites; BDB 660 s.v. 5.a). It would mean “wide of appetite” (רְהַב־נֶפֶשׁ, r^ehav nefesh) thus “greedy.”
9. Proverbs 28:25 sn Greed “stirs up” the strife. This individual’s attitude and actions stir up dissension because people do not long tolerate him.
10. Proverbs 28:25 tn The construction uses the participle בּוֹטֵחַ (boteakh) followed by עַל־יְהוָה (ʿal y^ehvah), which gives the sense of “relying confidently on the Lord.” This is the antithesis of the greedy person who pushes to get what he desires.
11. Proverbs 28:25 tn The verb דָּשֵׁן (dashen) means “to be fat,” and in the Piel/Pual stems “to make fat/to be made fat” (cf. KJV, ASV). The idea of being “fat” was symbolic of health and prosperity—the one who trusts in the Lord will be abundantly prosperous and fully gratified (cf. NRSV “will be enriched”).