Proverbs 21:13-15

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 21:13 sn The imagery means “pay no attention to” the cry for help or “refuse to help,” so it is a metonymy of cause for the effect.
2. Proverbs 21:13 sn “Cry” here would be a metonymy of effect for the cause, the cause being the great needs of the poor.
3. Proverbs 21:13 sn The proverb is teaching that those who show mercy will receive mercy. It involves the principle of talionic justice—those who refuse the needs of others will themselves be refused when they need help (so Luke 16:19-31).
4. Proverbs 21:14 sn The synonymous parallelism joins the more neutral term “gift” with the more specific “bribe.” D. Kidner notes that this underscores how hard it is to tell the difference between them, especially since they accomplish similar things (Proverbs [TOTC], 143).
5. Proverbs 21:14 tn The word כָּפָה (kafah) occurs only here; it means “to subdue,” but in New Hebrew it means “to overturn; to compel.” The BHS editors suggest a change to כָּבָה (kavah), “to be quenched,” based on Symmachus and Tg. Prov 21:14, but there is no substantial improvement in the text’s meaning with such a change.
6. Proverbs 21:14 tn Heb “a bribe in the bosom” (so NASB). This refers to a gift hidden in the folds of the garment, i.e., given secretly (cf. NIV “a bribe concealed in the cloak”).
7. Proverbs 21:14 tn The repetition of the term “subdues” in the second line is supplied in the translation.
8. Proverbs 21:14 tc The LXX offers a moralizing translation not too closely tied to the MT: “he who withholds a gift stirs up violent wrath.”
9. Proverbs 21:15 tn The Qal infinitive construct עֲשׂוֹת (ʿasot) functions as the subject of the sentence.
10. Proverbs 21:15 tn The term “brings” is supplied in the translation; many English versions supply a simple copula (“is”).
11. Proverbs 21:15 sn The noun means “terror (NAB, NASB, NIV), destruction (KJV, ASV), ruin (cf. NCV).” Its related verb means “be shattered, dismayed.” The idea of “dismay” (NRSV) or “terror” would make the better choice to contrast with “joy” in the first line, but “ruin” is also possible. Whenever justice prevails, whether in the courts or simply in society, the people who practice iniquity may be shaken into reality by fear (cf. CEV “crooks are terrified”).