25 As the word “ransom” (כֹּפֶר, cofer) indicates, the rich are susceptible to kidnapping and robbery. But the poor man pays no attention to blackmail—he does not have money to buy off oppressors. So the rich person is exposed to legal attacks and threats of physical violence and must use his wealth as ransom.
26 Heb “the life of a man.”
27 The term גְּעָרָה (gé’arah) may mean (1) “rebuke” (so , ) or (2) “threat” (so ; cf. , , ). If “rebuke” is the sense here, it means that the burdens of society fall on the rich as well as the dangers. But the sense of “threat” better fits the context: The rich are threatened with extortion, but the poor are not (cf. “the poor don’t have that problem”).
28 The images of “light” and “darkness” are used frequently in scripture. Here “light” is an implied comparison: “light” represents life, joy, and prosperity; “darkness” signifies adversity and death. So the “light of the righteous” represents the prosperous life of the righteous.
29 The verb יִשְׂמָח (yismah) is normally translated “to make glad; to rejoice.” But with “light” as the subject, it has the connotation “to shine brightly” (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew Text of Proverbs,” 32 [1951]: 180).
30 The lamp is an implied comparison as well, comparing the life of the wicked to a lamp that is going to be extinguished.
31 The adds, “Deceitful souls go astray in sins, but the righteous are pitiful and merciful.” The verb דָּעַךְ (da’akh) means “to go out [in reference to a fire or lamp]; to be extinguished.” The idea is that of being made extinct, snuffed out (cf. , ). The imagery may have been drawn from the sanctuary where the flame was to be kept burning perpetually. Not so with the wicked.