Proverbs 14:4

New English Translation

⁴Where there are no oxen, the feeding trough is clean,
but an abundant harvest is produced by strong oxen.^[a]

Proverbs 14:4 tn Heb “the strength of oxen.” The genitive שׁוֹר (shor, “oxen”) functions as an attributed genitive: “strong oxen.” Strong oxen are indispensable for a good harvest, and for oxen to be strong they must be well-fed. The farmer has to balance grain consumption with the work oxen do.

Proverbs 14:4

Lexham English Bible

⁴When there are no^[a] oxen the manger is empty,
but an abundance of crops comes by the strength of an ox.^[b]

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness,^[a]
and with its joy no one else^[b] can share.^[c]

Proverbs 14:10 tn Heb “bitterness of its soul.”
Proverbs 14:10 tn Heb “stranger” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
Proverbs 14:10 tn The verb is the Hitpael of II עָרַב (ʿarav), which means “to take in pledge; to give in pledge; to exchange.” Here it means “to share [in].” The proverb is saying that there are joys and sorrows that cannot be shared. No one can truly understand the deepest feelings of another.

¹⁰The heart^[a] knows the bitterness of its soul,^[b]
but in its joy, it will not share itself with a stranger.

¹³Even in laughter the heart may ache,^[a]
and the end^[b] of joy may be^[c] grief.

Proverbs 14:13 sn No joy is completely free of grief. There is a joy that is superficial and there is underlying pain that will remain after the joy is gone.
Proverbs 14:13 tc Heb “and its end, joy, is grief.” The suffix may be regarded as an Aramaism, a proleptic suffix referring to “joy.” Or it may be considered a case of wrong word division, moving the ה (he) to read אַחֲרִית הַשִּׂמְחָה (ʾakharit hassimkhah, “after the joy [may be] grief”) rather than אַחֲרִיתָהּ שִׂמְחָה (ʾakharitah simkhah, “after it, joy, grief”).
Proverbs 14:13 tn The phrase “may be” is not in the Hebrew but is supplied from the parallelism, which features an imperfect of possibility.

¹³Even in laughter, a heart may be sad,
and the end of joy may be grief.

New English Translation (NET)

Lexham English Bible (LEB)

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