Armenia in comments -- Book: Proverbs (tProv) Առակներ
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tProv 16:26 26 The hunger of the labourer laboureth for him,
For he is urged on by his mouth.
The Syr. translates: the soul of him who inflicts woe itself suffers it, and from his mouth destruction comes to him; the Targ. brings this translation nearer the original text (בּיפא, humiliation, instead of אבדנא, destruction); Luther translates thus also, violently abbreviating, however. But עמל (from עמל, Arab. 'amila, to exert oneself, laborare) means, like laboriosus, labouring as well as enduring difficulty, but not, as πονῶν τινα, causing difficulty, or (Euchel) occupied with difficulty. And labour and the mouth stand together, denoting that man labours that the mouth may have somewhat to eat (cf. Th2 3:10; נפשׁ, however, gains in this connection the meaning of ψυχὴ ὀρεκτική, and that of desire after nourishment, vid., at Pro 6:30; Pro 10:3). אכף also joins itself to this circle of ideas, for it means to urge (Jerome, compulit), properly (related to כּפף, incurvare, כּפה כּפא, to constrain, necessitate), to bow down by means of a burden. The Aramaeo-Arab. signification, to saddle (Schultens: clitellas imposuit ei os suum), is a secondary denom. (vid., at Job 33:7). The Venet. well renders it after Kimchi: ἐπεὶ κύπτει ἐπ ̓ αὐτὸν τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ. Thus: the need of nourishment on the part of the labourer works for him (dat. commodi like Isa 40:20), i.e., helps him to labour, for (not: if, ἐάν, as Rashi and others) it presses upon him; his mouth, which will have something to eat, urges him. It is God who has in this way connected together working and eating. The curse in sudore vultus tui comedes panem conceals a blessing. The proverb has in view this reverse side of the blessing in the arrangement of God. Proverbs 16:27 tProv 16:28 28 A man of falsehood scattereth strife,
And a backbiter separateth confidential friends.
Regarding תּהפּכות (מדבר) אישׁ, vid., Pro 2:12, and מדון ישׁלּח, Pro 6:14; the thought of 28b is found at Pro 6:19. נרגּן (with ן minusculum, which occurs thrice with the terminal Nun) is a Niphal formation from רגן, to murmur (cf. נזיד, from זיד), and denotes the whisperer, viz., the backbiter, ψίθυρος, Sir. 5:14, ψιθυριστής, susurro; the Arab. nyrj is abbreviated from it, a verbal stem of נרג (cf. Aram. norgo, an axe, Arab. naurag, a threshing-sledge = מורג) cannot be proved. Aquila is right in translating by τονθρυστής, and Theodotion by γόγγυσος, from רגן, Hiph. נרגּן, γογγύζειν. Regarding אלּוּף, confidential friend, vid., p. 82; the sing., as Pro 18:9, is used in view of the mutual relationship, and מפריד proceeds on the separation of the one, and, at the same time, of the other from it. Luther, in translating by "a slanderer makes princes disagree," is in error, for אלּוּף, φύλαρχος, is not a generic word for prince. Proverbs 16:29