Proverbs 18

Proverbs 18
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The whole Book of Proverbs in the Leningrad Codex (1008 C.E.) from an old fascimile edition.
Book	Book of Proverbs
Category	Ketuvim
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	21

Proverbs 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] The book is a compilation of several wisdom literature collections, with the heading in 1:1 may be intended to regard Solomon as the traditional author of the whole book, but the dates of the individual collections are difficult to determine, and the book probably obtained its final shape in the post-exilic period.^[3] This chapter is a part of the second collection of the book.^[4]

The following table shows the Hebrew text^[5][6] of Proverbs 18 with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[7]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).^[8]

This chapter belongs to a section regarded as the second collection in the book of Proverbs (comprising Proverbs 10:1–22:16), also called "The First 'Solomonic' Collection" (the second one in Proverbs 25:1–29:27).^[3] The collection contains 375 sayings, each of which consists of two parallel phrases, except for Proverbs 19:7 which consists of three parts.^[9]

A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire;

He rages against all wise judgment.^[10]

• "Isolates himself": or "has separated himself” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB), as the Hebrew word in Niphal participle functions substantively and has a reflexive nuance.^[11]
• "Wise judgment": or "sound wisdom".^[12]

A person of a misanthropic isolation described here is not merely anti-social, but becomes a problem for society since he will defy sound judgment.^[11][13]

It is not good to favor the wicked,

or to turn aside the righteous in judgment.^[14]

• "Not good": in form of a 'deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario' (a figure of speech known as "tapeinosis"); can be rendered as “it is terrible!”^[15]
• "To favor" translated from the idiom שְׂאֵת פְּנֵי, seʾet pene, “lifting up the face of”, which means “to show partiality” in decisions (cf. Deuteronomy 10:17; Malachi 2:9), using the verbal form of the Qal infinitive construct from נָשָׂא, nasaʾ, that functions as the subject of the clause.^[16] This is probably related the custom of a ruler raising the face of a prostrate subject as a sign of favor (cf. Malachi 1:8).

While partiality in judgement is condemned in verse 5, verse 17 cautions against reaching a premature verdict before a case carefully receives cross-examination, and if legal processes could not resolve the case, it is to be submitted to divine arbitration (verse 18; cf. Proverbs 16:33).^[13]

The words of a fool start fights;

do him a favor and gag him.^[17]

Death and life are in the power of the tongue:

and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.^[18]

• "In the power of": or “in the hand of.”^[19]

• Aitken, K. T. (2007). "19. Proverbs". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 405–422. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
• Alter, Robert (2010). The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: A Translation with Commentary. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0393080735.
• Coogan, Michael David (2007). Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 (Augmented 3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195288810.
• Farmer, Kathleen A. (1998). "The Wisdom Books". In McKenzie, Steven L.; Graham, Matt Patrick (eds.). The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-66425652-4.
• Fox, Michael V. (2009). Proverbs 10-31: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300155563.
• Halley, Henry H. (1965). Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary (24th (revised) ed.). Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN 0-310-25720-4.
• Perdue, Leo G. (2012). Proverbs Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-0664238841.
• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.

• Jewish translations:
  • Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 18 (Judaica Press) translation [with Rashi's commentary] at Chabad.org
• Christian translations:
  • Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
• Book of Proverbs Chapter 18 King James Version
• What is the REAL Meaning of Proverbs 18:22?
• Book of Proverbs public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions