Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

Should you rescue an angry man?
Proverbs 19:9

"A man of great wrath will suffer punishment;
For if you rescue him, you will have to do it again" (Proverbs 19:9, NKJV)

Proverbs 19:9 seems to talk about the futility of continually rescuing a very wrathful man. Giving up on someone is hardly a biblical attitude though. These twenty words of English cover just nine in the Hebrew one of which has an alternative reading. Hence the supplied italicised text in many English version trying to give sense to the grammar of the passage, let alone its meaning.

The Hebrew reads literally, without adjustment for English word order:

"gravely/rough [or great] heat/rage/wrath enduring/bearing a-fine [financial];
for if-you-will-cause-to-deliver and/then-still/again you-will-cause-to-add/increase."

Now you see the translator's dilemma! A translator's handbook on this verse says:

"A man of great wrath will pay the penalty: In the written Hebrew text the word rendered great does not make sense, and so the form translated great is the one that is read in its place. This line may be understood, according to Toy, as "A man of great anger pays a fine," "… must bear a penalty," or "he who pays a fine is very angry." The expression translated by RSV as pay the penalty is understood by some to mean "bear the consequences." So REB translates "Anyone whose temper is violent must bear the consequences." Note also TEV. CEV expresses the line as "People with bad tempers are always in trouble."
For if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again: The RSV footnote says the Hebrew is uncertain. Translators and interpreters differ greatly in their understanding of this line. Toy gives six translations and concludes that the text is "incurably corrupt." Nevertheless, the sense of the RSV rendering is as likely as any. In its text TEV follows RSV. However, note that TEV gives an alternate rendering in its footnote. Translators are encouraged to follow the RSV or TEV texts or the TEV footnote."^F1

Many Study Bibles avoid commenting on this verse, concise commentaries offer brief insights, such as IVP's Kidner describing the Hebrew of the verse as "cryptic" and "damaged". The Century Bible's comment by Currie Martin is that it is an "insoluble riddle". The more critical ICC commentary by Toy regards the passage as "incurably corrupt".

Clues are provided from the ancient versions. The Greek Septuagint (LXX) and Aramaic Targum supply the word "man", present in most English versions, for they have ανηρ anêr (Strong's #435) and גֶּבֶר gebher (Strong's #1397), respectively. The Greek describes this man as "malicious" or "imprudent", i.e., "foolish" in Proverbs-speak, whilst the Aramaic agrees with the Hebrew and sees him as "very angry" חֵמָה chêmâh (Strong's #2534), or "hot-headed".

The introduction of the adjective "great" comes from a marginal reading known as the קרי qere "what is read" as opposed to the כּתב kethib "what is actually written". This is sometimes due to an alternate reading of the Hebrew vowels, added many centuries after Jesus' day. In this case it is due to the possible mistranscription by a scroll scribe of גּדל gâdhôl (Strong's #1419) as גּרל gârôl (Strong's #1632). One can see the minute difference in pen stroke between the Hebrew letters ר r and ד d, at the top right hand corner of the character. If this was a slip of the quill then the form גּדל gâdhôl is still a rare and defective spelling of גָּדוּל gâdhôwl "great" missing its third letter. In fact, the misspelt word does occur like this in Deuteronomy 26:8 and 19 other places, all bar one in the Pentateuch, reflecting an earlier spelling convention. The exception is Psalm 57:11, so it is possible that Proverbs also had a late spelling rarity.

The general rule, however, is that if two readings are possible and one appears to be a correction of the other, then the simpler tends to replace the more complex. Nonetheless, the complex harder to fathom reading may often be the original with the scribe erroneously changing it because it does not make immediate sense. In this case, a changed reading would therefore tend to use the more correct and later form of גָּדוּל gâdhôwl not גָּדל gâdhôl. The scribes, though, would not insert an additional letter and only regarded the middle consonant as being misread/miswritten.

If the original text were to stand then the meaning is drawn from גּרל gârôl, a hapax legomena - word occurring only once, probably meaning something rough or gravely, or as Gesenius "morose".

The next phrase "suffer the punishment" is "bear the penalty" in the ASV which seems closer to the literal Hebrew which refers to a legal or financial fine, as it is used in its only other context in 2 Kings 23:33 of a tribute, tax or fine.

The second phrase "for if you deliver you will add again" also appears meaningless. The Greek reads, "for if he commit injury he will also lose his life". This seems to refer back to Proverbs 19:18 on disciplining a son but not unto his destruction, suggesting that if one's anger causes injury to one's son then the father too will be punished and will add his own life to be forfeited by the courts.

Thus, a court or legal punishment situation appears to be envisaged. Either the hotheaded impulsiveness of the perpetrator or his parent seems in mind. If the latter, then the parent is cautioned not to overstep the mark and put his own life on the line too. If the former, then anyone thinking of getting him off the hook is advised against it, for one might have to go on rescuing the person, if they don't learn their lesson by "bearing their punishment".

The early Jewish commentator thought it meant that "if one saves one's enemy you would add good to yourself", or simply "increase oneself", in stature and character before God. The Hebrew is insufficiently clear to justify this reading and any of the above alternatives have their merits.

FOOTNOTES:
F1: Reyburn, W. D., & Fry, E. M. (2000). A handbook on Proverbs. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators, p.406. New York: United Bible Societies.

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