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18 The one who lacks sense[a] strikes hands in pledge,[b]
and puts up financial security[c] for his neighbor.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 17:18 tn Heb “lacking of mind.” The term לֵב (lev, “mind, heart”) refers by metonymy to thinking, and by extension to discernment, wisdom, good sense. Cf. KJV, ASV “a man void of understanding”; NIV “a man lacking in judgment.”
  2. Proverbs 17:18 tn The phrase “in pledge” is supplied for the sake of clarification.
  3. Proverbs 17:18 tn The line uses the participle עֹרֵב (ʿorev) with its cognate accusative עֲרֻבָּה (ʿarubbah), “who pledges a pledge.”
  4. Proverbs 17:18 sn It is foolish to pledge security for someone’s loans (e.g., Prov 6:1-5).