19 Better the poor whose walk is blameless
    than a fool whose lips are perverse.(A)

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19 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity[a]
than one who is perverse in his speech[b] and is a fool.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 19:1 sn People should follow honesty even if it leads to poverty (e.g., Prov 18:23; 19:22).
  2. Proverbs 19:1 tn Heb “lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy for what one says with his lips. The expression “perverse in his lips” refers to speech that is morally perverted. Some medieval Hebrew mss, the Syriac, and Tg. Prov 19:1 have “his ways” rather than “his lips” (e.g., Prov 28:6); cf. NAB.
  3. Proverbs 19:1 tc The Syriac and Tg. Prov 19:1 read “rich” instead of MT “fool.” This makes tighter antithetical parallelism than MT and is followed by NAB. However, the MT makes sense as it stands; this is an example of metonymical parallelism. The MT reading is also supported by the LXX. The Hebrew construction uses וְהוּא (vehuʾ), “and he [is],” before “fool.” This may be rendered “one who is perverse while a fool” or “a fool at the same time.”

Saying 14

15 My son, if your heart is wise,
    then my heart will be glad indeed;
16 my inmost being will rejoice
    when your lips speak what is right.(A)

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15 My child,[a] if your heart is wise,
then my heart also will be glad;
16 my soul[b] will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:15 tn Heb “my son,” although the context does not limit this exhortation to male children.
  2. Proverbs 23:16 tn Heb “my kidneys”; in biblical Hebrew the term was used for the innermost being, the soul, the central location of the passions. Cf. NASB, NIV “my inmost being.”
  3. Proverbs 23:16 sn This twelfth saying simply observes that children bring joy to their parents when they demonstrate wisdom. The quatrain is arranged in a chiastic structure (AB:B'A'): The first line (A) speaks of wisdom in the child, and it is paired with the last line (A') which speaks of the child’s saying what is right. In between these brackets are two lines (B and B') concerning joy to the parent.

Saying 20

24 Do not envy(A) the wicked,
    do not desire their company;
for their hearts plot violence,(B)
    and their lips talk about making trouble.(C)

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24 Do not envy evil people,[a]
do not desire[b] to be with them;
for their hearts contemplate violence,
and their lips speak harm.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 24:1 tn Heb “evil men,” although the context indicates a generic sense.
  2. Proverbs 24:1 tn The Hitpael jussive is from the verb that means “to crave; to desire.” This is more of a coveting, an intense desire.
  3. Proverbs 24:2 sn This nineteenth saying warns against evil associations. Evil people are obsessed with destruction and trouble. See on this theme 1:10-19; 3:31 and 23:17. D. Kidner observes that a close view of sinners is often a good antidote to envying them (Proverbs [TOTC], 153).

Like the useless legs of one who is lame
    is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.(A)

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Like[a] legs dangle uselessly[b] from the lame,
so[c] a proverb[d] dangles[e] in the mouth of fools.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 26:7 tn The line does not start with the comparative preposition כ(kaf) “like,” but the proverb clearly invites comparison between the two lines.
  2. Proverbs 26:7 tn Heb “thighs dangle from the lame.” The verb is דַּלְיוּ (dalyu), from דָּלָה (dalah) or דָּלַל (dalal) biforms which mean “to hang down” and possibly by extension “to let down/lower/be low” and “to draw [water]” i.e., lowering a bucket into a well and drawing it up. We might imagine paralyzed legs either as “dangling” or “pulled up” to a stable position where a person sits, both indicating the uselessness of the legs—they are there but cannot be used. Since the verb must function in both halves of the verse, “dangling” is the most likely picture. Luther gave the verse a fanciful but memorable rendering: “Like dancing to a cripple, so is a proverb in the mouth of the fool.”
  3. Proverbs 26:7 tn Because of the analogy within the verse, indicated in translation by supplying “like,” the conjunction vav has been translated “so.”
  4. Proverbs 26:7 sn As C. H. Toy puts it, the fool is a “proverb-monger” (Proverbs [ICC], 474); he handles an aphorism about as well as a lame man can walk. The fool does not understand, has not implemented, and cannot explain the proverb. It is useless to him even though he repeats it.
  5. Proverbs 26:7 tn The verb has been supplied from the first colon because of the convention of ellipsis and double duty (omitting a word in one line which is understood to apply from another line).