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OET (OET-RV) The person who winks at you will cause grief,
⇔ ≈ and those who speak foolishly will be ruined.
This section is the main collection of Solomon’s proverbs. It has a very different structure from the longer poetic lectures of chapters 1–9. It consists mostly of individual couplets (two-line poems) that are each one verse in length. With the exception of the title (10:1a), paragraph breaks will not be indicated in the Notes or Display. You may of course choose to start each proverb as a separate paragraph in your translation.
In chapters 10–15, most of these one-verse couplets express a contrast between the two lines. One of the more common contrasts is between the righteous/wise and the wicked/foolish and the different consequences of their conduct.
In chapters 16:1–22:16, more topics are discussed. There is more emphasis on the role of the king and other leaders. In these chapters, there are few proverbs with contrasting lines. Some of the parallel lines are similar in meaning. More frequently, the second line adds to what the first line says or gives an example. Most of the verses have no obvious connection with the previous or following proverbs.UBS (page 214), Fox (page 509), McKane (page 413). Many scholars, including McKane, point out that there are some topical groupings as well as poetic connections. These include the repetition of certain words or sounds. This observation does not deny the individual nature of most of the proverbs in this Section.
Two of the types of proverbs in this section are not found in chapters 1–9. One type contains logical reasoning from the lesser to the greater. See 11:31 for a list of these proverbs. There are also several varieties of complex “better than” proverbs. The most common have a contrasting situation in each line (see 12:9). For other varieties, see 16:16, 19:1, and 21:9.
Many of the proverbs in this section refer to categories of people who share a common trait. For example, they refer to the righteous, the wise, the poor, and the lazy. In Hebrew, some verses use singular forms to refer to these groups of people. Other verses use plural forms. Still others use a combination of singular and plural. See the note on 10:30a–b for one example. For most of these verses, the Notes will not comment on the difference between singular and plural forms. Use a natural way in your language to refer to one or more people who are in the same category.
Many of the proverbs in this section express a general principle in abstract terms. They are not addressed specifically to the readers. For example, 10:2a–b says:
Ill-gotten treasures are of no value,
but righteousness delivers from death.
However, the author intended his readers to understand these proverbs as advice that they should follow. In some languages, authors or speakers give advice more directly, using pronouns such as you(sing), you(plur), we(dual), or we(incl). See the note on 10:2 for translation suggestions.
Some other headings for this section are:
Proverbs of Solomon (NIV)
The Wise Words of Solomon (NCV)
Here are many wise things that Solomon said
Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning. The NRSV has been used as the source line for 10:10b, because it follows the textual recommendation.
10a He who winks the eye causes grief,
10bbut the one who rebukes buldly makes peace. (NRSV)
He who winks the eye causes grief,
A person who winks to signal his bad intentions to his companions will cause trouble/sorrow to other people,
If a person gestures to his companions that he is about to harm/deceive someone, the result will be heartache/problems.
He who winks the eye: In Hebrew, this phrase is literally “one who winks an eye.” Scholars do not know exactly what this action implied to the original readers.
The context may be the same as 6:13a–c (see the note there). In that context, a person winks at his companions to indicate that he intends to deceive or harm someone else. This may be the reason that the NIV supplies the word “maliciously.”
causes grief: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as grief usually refers to mental pain, grief, or sorrow. Another way to translate this meaning is:
causes heartache (GW)
However, in this context, it may refer to trouble or strife.BDB (#6094) has “stirs up strife” for Proverbs 10:10. NIDOTTE (H6780) and Waltke (page 460) both indicate that the word may refer to “social strife” in the context of this verse. For example, the NRSV and some other English versions have:
causes trouble (NRSV)
Both of these meanings fit the context and are well supported. You may use either one.
If winking does not imply malicious or deceptive intentions in your language, some translation options are:
Make the meaning of the action explicit. For example:
A person who winks to show that his intentions are bad causes sorrow/trouble.
Use a general term rather than a specific action. For example:
If someone signals/gestures that he is going to do something bad, trouble/grief will be the result.
Translate the significance of winking without mentioning the action itself. For example:
Deceit causes trouble (CEV)
and foolish lips will come to ruin.
but a person who frankly reprimands someone for doing wrong will cause peace/harmony to be restored.
But if someone honestly/openly rebukes another person, it will lead to peace/harmony.
(NRSV) but the one who rebukes boldly makes peace: There is a textual difference in this line:
The LXX has: “He who rebukes candidly makes peace.” For example:
but one who openly criticizes works for peace (GNT) (NRSV, REB, NAB, NLT, NJB, GNT)
The Masoretic Text (MT) has: “and a fool of lips will be thrown down.” In the MT, this line is identical to 10:8b. For example:
and foolish talk will bring you to ruin (CEV) (BSB, ESV, KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV, GW, CEV, NET, NJPS)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), because it follows the pattern of antithetical proverbs found throughout this section.Waltke (page 459) explains the shift to progressive parallelism by saying that it marks 10:10 as the center proverb that links the pair of quatrains in 10:6–14. He says that 10:8b is repeated in 10:10b in order to link the center proverb with the previous section. On the other hand, there is no scholarly consensus that this section of Proverbs is so tightly organized. Scholars who support the LXX reading include Fox, Murphy, McKane, Kidner, and Scott. Those who support the MT include Delitzsch, Garrett, Ross, Waltke, and Whybray. If you use footnotes, you may want to add a footnote that gives the MT. For example:
This is what the Septuagint (LXX) says. The Hebrew (Masoretic Text) says: “and a person who speaks foolishly will ruin his life.”
(NRSV) the one who rebukes boldly makes peace: This line means that if a person openly or frankly reprimands someone else for doing wrong, peaceful or harmonious relationships will be restored. Another way to translate this clause is:
a frank rebuke promotes peace (REB)
Note 1 topic: translate-symaction
קֹ֣רֵֽץ עַ֭יִן
winks eye
See how you translated a similar phrase is [6:13](../06/13.md).
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
יִתֵּ֣ן עַצָּ֑בֶת
he/it_gave trouble
Here Solomon speaks of causing people to feel pain or grief as if pain were an object that someone gives to someone else. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “causes pain”
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
וֶאֱוִ֥יל שְׂ֝פָתַ֗יִם יִלָּבֵֽט
and,a_fool lips comes_to_ruin
See how you translated the nearly identical clause in [10:8](../10/08.md).
10:10 To wink at wrong suggests approving of bad behavior rather than confronting it.
• but a bold reproof promotes peace: The NLT translators assume that the original text is reflected in the Greek version. The second line in the Hebrew text may have been copied by mistake from 10:8.
OET (OET-RV) The person who winks at you will cause grief,
⇔ ≈ and those who speak foolishly will be ruined.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.