Proverbs 27:2-4 New English Translation
2 Let another[a] praise you, and not your own mouth;[b]
someone else,[c] and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,
but vexation[d] by a fool is more burdensome[e] than the two of them.
4 Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming,[f]
but who can stand before jealousy?[g]
Footnotes
- Proverbs 27:2 tn Heb “a stranger.” This does not necessarily refer to a non-Israelite, as has been demonstrated before in the book of Proverbs, but these are people outside the familiar and accepted circles. The point is that such a person would be objective in speaking about your abilities and accomplishments.
- Proverbs 27:2 sn “Mouth” and “lips” are metonymies of cause; they mean “what is said.” People should try to avoid praising themselves. Self praise can easily become a form of pride, even if it begins with trivial things. It does not establish a reputation; reputation comes from what others think about you.
- Proverbs 27:2 tn “a foreigner”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “a stranger.”
- Proverbs 27:3 tn The subject matter is the vexation produced by a fool. The term כַּעַס (kaʿas) means “vexation” (ASV); provocation” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); “anger” (KJV “wrath”) and usually refers to undeserved treatment. Cf. NLT “the resentment caused by a fool.” sn The same noun is used in 1 Sam 1:6, 16 for the “provocation” given to Hannah by Peninnah for being barren.
- Proverbs 27:3 sn The contrast is made between dealing with the vexation of a fool and physical labor (moving stones and sand). More tiring is the vexation of a fool, for the mental and emotional effort it takes to deal with it is more draining than physical labor. It is, in the sense of this passage, almost unbearable.
- Proverbs 27:4 tn Heb “fierceness of wrath and outpouring [= flood] of anger.” A number of English versions use “flood” here (e.g., NASB, NCV, NLT).
- Proverbs 27:4 tn The Hebrew term translated “jealousy” here probably has the negative sense of “envy” rather than the positive sense of “zeal.” It is a raging emotion (like “anger” and “wrath,” this word has nuances of heat, intensity) that defies reason at times and can be destructive like a consuming fire (e.g., 6:32-35; Song 8:6-7). The rhetorical question is intended to affirm that no one can survive a jealous rage. (Whether one is the subject who is jealous or the object of the jealousy of someone else is not so clear.)
New English Translation (NET)
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