Loyalty and Faithfulness

Loyalty and Faithfulness

Proverbs 3:3

3:3

Let not loyalty and faithfulness …: Loyalty and faithfulness are a combination of qualities that occur in such passages as Gen 24:49; Ex. 34:6; Deut 7:9; and Psa 25:10 and express the ideal relationship between people or between God and people. The two words overlap considerably in their meanings. In Gen 47:29 the word rendered loyalty (Hebrew chesed) is used of the relationship of Joseph to his father Jacob and in Ex. 34:6 of the relationship of the Lord to his own people. An essential element in loyalty is love, and the word is sometimes translated as “love.” NJB says “faithful love.”

The idea of being “loyal” is sometimes stated in figurative language, for example, “to keep every word spoken to someone” or “to follow faithfully in someone’s tracks.”

Faithfulness may be described as a state of trustworthiness or dependability. A person who is faithful is one in whom complete confidence may be placed.

Let not … forsake you: The two qualities of loyalty and faithfulness are somewhat personified in that the learner is told not to allow them to forsake or depart from him. In some languages these abstract nouns must be expressed in another form, with the real subject you as the subject of each sentence; for example, “Do not cease to be loving and faithful to others,” “Do not give up being a loyal and dependable person,” or “Always be loyal and reliable in everything you do.”

Bind them about your neck: It is apparent that loyalty and faithfulness cannot literally be tied around the neck. Therefore, the clause has a figurative sense, that is, “Wear them like something tied around your neck.” The image probably suggests a necklace as in 1:9 or a signet ring hung on a cord as in Gen 38:18. CEV says “Let love and loyalty always show like a necklace.” FRCL says “Keep those qualities like a precious ornament.” If it is not natural to say “Wear them like …,” it may be possible to say “Carry them with you like a precious jewel” or “Put them on like you put on a ring.”

Write them on the tablet of your heart: This line is lacking in some manual scripts of the Septuagint. HOTTP considers it to be a line added by a copyist, gives it a “C” rating, and recommends that it be omitted. However, most modern translations keep it, and translators are advised by the authors of the Handbook to do the same.

This expression is found elsewhere only in 7:3 and in Jer 17:1, but the same thought is found in Deut 30:14 and Jer 31:33. In Deut 6:9 the commandments of the Lord were to be written on the doorposts of the houses and on the gates to remind people of them as they went in and out. In ancient times tablets were made of stone or clay. The term tablet would have led Jewish readers to think of the tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were written (Deut 5:22).

The expression is used here figuratively and is a graphic way of saying “Keep them in your memory” or “Don’t forget them.” Some languages use the literal expression “to write something on the heart.” If this is not a natural way of speaking in your language, it may be best to keep the expression more general with, for example, “Keep them fresh in your memory” or “Put them into your mind.”

Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. A Handbook on Proverbs. New York: United Bible Societies, 2000. Print. UBS Handbook Series.