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

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Footnotes

  1. 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.

Where no oxen are, the manger is clean,
But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.

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

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 14:10 tn Heb “bitterness of its soul.”
  2. Proverbs 14:10 tn Heb “stranger” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
  3. 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.

10 The heart knows its own (A)bitterness,
And a stranger does not share its gladness.

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

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Footnotes

  1. 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.
  2. 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”).
  3. 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.

13 Even in laughter the heart may be in pain,
And the (A)end of joy may be grief.

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