Proverbs 6:34-35

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 6:34 tn The word “kindles” was supplied in the translation; both “rage” and “jealousy” have meanings connected to heat.
2. Proverbs 6:34 tn Heb “a man’s.”
3. Proverbs 6:34 tn The verb חָמַל (khamal) means “to show mercy; to show compassion; to show pity,” usually with the outcome of sparing or delivering someone. The idea here is that the husband will not spare the guilty man any of the punishment (cf. NRSV “he shows no restraint”).
4. Proverbs 6:35 tn Heb “lift up the face of,” meaning “regard.”
5. Proverbs 6:35 tc The MT’s “he will not lift the face of all of compensation” is probably a case of wrong word division. If the two letters of the word כֹל (kol, “all”) are divided and joined to the previous and following words, the text reads לֹא יִשָּׂא פָנֶיךָ לְכֹפֶר (loʾ yissaʾ faneka l^ekofer) “he will not lift your face for [any] compensation.”tn The word rendered “compensation” is כֹּפֶר (kofer); it is essentially a ransom price, a sum to be paid to deliver another from debt, bondage, or crime. The husband cannot accept payment as a ransom for a life, since what has happened cannot be undone so easily.
6. Proverbs 6:35 tn BDB 1005 s.v. שֹׁחַד suggests that this term means “hush money” or “bribe” (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT). C. H. Toy takes it as legal compensation (Proverbs [ICC], 142).