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17 Do not let your heart envy[a] sinners,
but rather be zealous in fearing the Lord[b] all the time.
18 For surely there is a future,[c]
and your hope will not be cut off.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:17 tn The verb in this line is אַל־יְקַנֵּא (ʾal yeqanneʾ), the Piel jussive negated. The verb means “to be jealous, to be zealous”; it describes passionate intensity for something. In English, if the object is illegitimate, it is called “envy”; if it is correct, it is called “zeal.” Here the warning is not to envy the sinners. The second colon could use the verb in the positive sense to mean “but rather let your passion burn for the fear of the Lord.”
  2. Proverbs 23:17 tn Heb “the fear of the Lord.” This expression features an objective genitive: “fearing the Lord.”
  3. Proverbs 23:18 tn Heb “end” (so KJV); ASV “a reward.”
  4. Proverbs 23:18 sn The saying is an understatement; far from being cut off, the “hope” will be realized in the end. So this saying, the thirteenth, advises people to be zealous for the fear of the Lord, their religion, rather than for anything that sinners have to offer.

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
    but always continue in the fear of the Lord.(A)
18 Surely there is a future,
    and your hope will not be cut off.

Read full chapter