PROV 1:19 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:8–19: First lesson: Avoid evil companions

This first lesson may be summarized as follows:

Introduction: Pay attention to your parents’ advice, because it will improve your character (1:8–9).
Lesson: If robbers try to persuade you to do evil (1:10–14), refuse to join them (1:15), because they will destroy their own lives (1:16–18).
Conclusion: People who are greedy and try to obtain wealth illegally will die (1:19).This outline is based on “The Design of Lecture 1” in Fox (page 92).

Some other headings for this section are:

Warnings against Bad Friends (CEV)

Advice to a young man to not be tempted by evil people

Paragraph 1:15–19

In this paragraph, the father repeats his advice to the son to reject the sinners’ invitation (1:15). He then gives two reasons: (a) Criminals lead evil lives (1:16). (b) They are so foolish they will end up destroying themselves (1:17–18). The paragraph ends with a summary statement (1:19).

1:19

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^19a Such is the fate of all who are greedy,

^19bwhose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

Both lines state what happens to people who obtain wealth by wrongful means.

1:19a

Such is the fate of all who are greedy,

In fact, this is what will happen to all who try to obtain wealth wrongfully/unjustly,
So we^(dual/incl)/you^(sing) understand that everyone who is greedy to take away what belongs to others
What I mean to say is this: If anyone gets wealth from doing what is wrong,

Such is the fate of all who are greedy: The word Such marks the father’s/writer’s summary or conclusion of the first lesson. His conclusion is that death is the resultThe Hebrew text is literally: “Such are the ways.” The LXX has a word meaning “end/fate.” It is not necessary to emend “ways” to “end,” as Toy (page 20) and the BHS editors suggest. The metaphor of the way/ways/path in Proverbs refers to both a person’s way of life and its outcome. See Delitzsch (page 47) and Fox (page 90). for anyone who spends his life gaining wealth unjustly, like the criminals described in the preceding verses.

In some languages, a summary or conclusion may be introduced as follows:

So we^(dual/incl) understand that…

What I mean to say is…

Use a natural way in your language to introduce this conclusion.

the fate: The word that the BSB translates as fate can be literally translated as “ways.” Sometimes it refers to a person’s manner of life, but here it refers to the result or outcome of his manner of life.

are greedy: There are different ways to interpret the meaning of these words:

These words refer to people who try to get rich illegally or dishonestly. For example:
Such are the paths of all who seek dishonest gain (NJB) (NIV, CEV, REB, NJB)
These words refer broadly to people who are greedy/covetous. For example:
All greedy people end up this way (NCV) (BSB, RSV, NLT, GW, NCV)
These words refer specifically to people who try to gain wealth by violence/murder. For example:
this is what happens to anyone who lives by violence (GNT) (GNT)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).Whybray (page 42) says that the verb may have a double meaning “cut off (life).” Toy (page 18) also feels that the term “gain” has here the connotation of violence. But Fox (page 90) says that beṣaʿ usually connotes wrongful profit, almost always in the form of bribes and embezzlement and that in the phrase boṣeaʿ beṣaʿ, beṣaʿ always designates illegal profit. He concludes that the principle is thus broader than the situation described in the preceding verses and that the “untimely death of cutthroats is paradigmatic for all cheats, even the petty embezzler.” Waltke (pages 196–197), Murphy (page 10), and McKane (page 271) also understand this to refer to “unjust gain.”

1:19a–b

(combined/reordered)

To summarize, if we^(dual/incl)/you^(sing) get wealth dishonestly, the result will be our/your death.

1:19b

whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.

because living this way results in death.
will lose his own life.
it will lead to his death.

whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors: The first word whose refers to the “greedy” who are trying to become wealthy by doing what is wrong. The last word its refers to the wealth that is gained in this way. This meaning is clearly expressed by the NAB:

unlawful gain takes away the life of him who acquires it (NAB)

General Comment on 1:19a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parts of these two lines. For example:

To summarize, if you get wealth dishonestly, it will take away your life.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

אָ֭רְחוֹת

ways_of

Here Solomon uses paths to refer to the destiny of those sinners. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “are the destinies of”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj

כָּל

all/each/any/every

Here Solomon uses the adjective all as a noun to mean “every person.” Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this word with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: “all people”

Note 3 topic: writing-poetry

בֹּ֣צֵֽעַ בָּ֑צַע

greedy gain

Here, unjustly gain unjust gain is an emphatic construction that uses a verb and its object that come from the same root. You may be able to use the same construction in your language to express the meaning here. Alternatively, your language may have another way of showing the emphasis. Alternate translation: “who are greedy for unjust gain”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

בָּ֑צַע

gain

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of gain, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: “what they gain unjustly”

Note 5 topic: writing-pronouns

אֶת־נֶ֖פֶשׁ בְּעָלָ֣י⁠ו יִקָּֽח

DOM creature its_owners_of,his takes_away

Here, the pronouns it and its refer to the unjust gain that is mentioned in the previous clause. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: “that unjust gain takes the life of the unjust gain’s owner”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

אֶת־נֶ֖פֶשׁ בְּעָלָ֣י⁠ו יִקָּֽח

DOM creature its_owners_of,his takes_away

Solomon speaks of unjust gain as if it were a person who could kill its owner. He means that the wicked things that sinful people do to unjustly gain unjust gain will cause them to die. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly or use a simile. Alternate translation: “unjust gain results in its owner dying” or “seeking unjust gain kills those who do it” or “it is as if unjust gain takes the life of its owner”

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

אֶת־נֶ֖פֶשׁ & יִקָּֽח

DOM creature & takes_away

Here, the phrase takes the life of means to kill someone. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “it kills”

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

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.

OET interlinear PROV 1:19

Hebrew word order