10 The word “diligent” is an adjective used substantivally. The related verb means “to cut, sharpen, decide”; so the adjective describes one who is “sharp”—one who acts decisively. The word “hasty” has the idea of being pressed or pressured into quick actions. So the text contrasts calculated expeditiousness with unproductive haste. C. H. Toy does not like this contrast, and so proposes changing the latter to “lazy” (Proverbs [], ), but W. McKane rightly criticizes that as unnecessarily forming a pedestrian antithesis (Proverbs [], 550).
11 The term “lead” is supplied in the translation.
12 The Hebrew noun translated “plenty” comes from the verb יָתַר (yatar), which means “to remain over.” So the calculated diligence will lead to abundance, prosperity.
13 Heb “lack; need; thing needed”; “to want.”
14 The first word of the verse is the noun meaning “doing, deed, work.” The editors suggest reading with the an active participle—“the one who makes” (cf. “He who makes”). The second word means “treasure,” from the verb “lay up, store up.” It is an objective genitive here.
15 The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.
16 The Hebrew הֶבֶל נִדָּף (hevel nidaf) is properly “a driven vapor” (“driven” = the Niphal participle). The point of the metaphor is that the ill-gotten gains will vanish into thin air. The has “pursues” (as if reading רֹדֵף, rodef); cf. “chasing a bubble over deadly snares.”
17 The Hebrew has “seekers of death,” meaning “[they that seek them] are seekers of death,” or that the fortune is “a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.” The sense is not readily apparent. The Greek and the Latin versions have “snares of death”; the form מוֹקְשֵׁי (moqéshe) was read instead of מְבַקְשֵׁי (mévaqshe). This reading does not make a more credible metaphor, and one must explain the loss of the letter ב (bet) in the textual variant. It is, however, slightly easier to interpret in the verse, and is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., , , , ). But whether the easier reading is the correct one in this case would be difficult to prove.