Proverbs 23:18

For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) An end, which shall be peace (Psalm 37:37), corresponding to the “manifestation of the sons of God “(Romans 8:19), when we shall be “like” God (1John 3:2).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:12-16 Here is a parent instructing his child to give his mind to the Scriptures. Here is a parent correcting his child: accompanied with prayer, and blessed of God, it may prove a means of preventing his destruction. Here is a parent encouraging his child, telling him what would be for his good. And what a comfort it would be, if herein he answered his expectation! 17,18. The believer's expectation shall not be disappointed; the end of his trials, and of the sinner's prosperity, is at hand.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Or, For if there is an end (hereafter), thine expectations shall not be cut off. There is an implied confidence in immortality.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. an end—or, "hereafter," another time, when apparent inequalities shall be adjusted (compare Ps 37:28-38).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

An end; an expected and happy end for such as fear God, which was required, Proverbs 23:17. Or,

a reward, as this Hebrew word is rendered, Proverbs 24:20.

Thine expectation shall not be cut off; thou shalt certainly enjoy that good which thou expectest, as the wicked shall lose that happiness which they enjoy.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For surely there is an end,.... Both of the prosperity of the wicked, which is but for a short time; and of the afflictions of the righteous, which are but as it were for a moment; and therefore there is no reason to envy the one, nor to be fretful under the other; the end to a good man will be peace and prosperity for ever: there is a "reward" (b), as some render it here, for the righteous, though not of debt, but of grace; upon which account they have ground to expect much here and hereafter;

and thine expectation shall not be cut off; or "hope" (c); as an hypocrite's is; for the hope of a saint is well founded upon the person and righteousness of Christ, and is an anchor sure and steadfast; his expectation of grace, and every needful supply of it, while in this life, and of eternal glory and happiness in the world to come, shall not perish; but he shall enjoy what he is hoping, expecting, and waiting for.

(b) "merces", Pagninnus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gejerus; so Ben Melech. (c) "spes tua", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

For surely there is an end; {h} and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

(h) The prosperity of the wicked will not continue.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. an end] See Proverbs 24:14; Proverbs 24:20; in both which places A.V. renders the same Heb. word, reward, as it does here in the margin, and as R.V. does in all three places in the text. It is perhaps better to retain in all these places the significant literal rendering, a future, a hereafter: “or, sequel, or, future, Heb. latter end,” R.V. marg. here. “You will scarcely fail,” writes Maurer, “to recognise here a sure hope of immortality; seeing that many unrighteous men prosper and righteous men are miserable, even to the end of their earthly lives.” Psalms 73. is a sermon on this text. The LXX. however, render ἔκγονα here, and the same Heb. word ἐγκαταλείμματα, Psalms 37. (36. in LXX.) 38.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - For surely there is an end. PGBR> Some take the hemistich conditionally, rendering אִם "when," or "if the end comes;" but cue sees no object in the thought being expressed conditionally; and it is best. with the Authorized Version, Nowack, and others, to take כִּי אִם equivalent to "assuredly," as in Judges 15:7; 2 Samuel 15:21. "End" (acharith) is the glorious future that awaits the pious (Proverbs 24:14; Jeremiah 29:11). The prosperity of simmers is not to be envied, for it is transitory and deceptive; but for the righteous, however depressed at times there is a happy end in prospect. And thine expectation (hope) shall not be cut off. The hope of comfort here and reward hereafter shall be abundantly realized. The writer has a firm belief in the moral government of God, and in a future life which shall rectify all anomalies (comp. Proverbs 14:32; Wisd. 5:15, etc.; Ecclus. 1:13). Septuagint, "For if thou keep them, thou shalt haw posterity, and thy hope shall not be removed" (Psalm 37:9; Job 42:12). Proverbs 23:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The poet now shows how one attains unto wisdom - the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God:

17 Let not thine heart strive after sinners,

     But after the fear of Jahve all the day.

18 Truly there is a future,

     And thy hope shall not come to naught.

The lxx, Jerome, the Venet., and Luther, and the Arab. interpreters, render 17b as an independent clause: "but be daily in the fear of the Lord." That is not a substantival clause (cf. Proverbs 22:7), nor can it be an interjectional clause, but it may be an elliptical clause (Fleischer: from the prohibitive אל־תקנא is to be taken for the second parallel member the v. subst. lying at the foundation of all verbs); but why had the author omitted היה dettim? Besides, one uses the expressions, to act (עשׂה), and to walk (הלך) in the fear of God, but not the expression to be (היה) in the fear of God. Thus בּיראת, like בחטּאים, is dependent on אל־תּקנּא; and Jerome, who translates: Non aemuletur cor tuum peccatores, sed in timore Domini esto tota die, ought to have continued: sed timorem Domini tota die; for, as one may say in Latin: aemulari virtutes, as well as aemulari aliquem, so also in Heb. קנּא ב, of the envying of those persons whose fortune excites to dissatisfaction, because one has not the same, and might yet have it, Proverbs 3:31; Proverbs 24:1, Proverbs 24:19, as well as of emulation for a thing in which one might not stand behind others: envy not sinners, envy much rather the fear of God, i.e., let thyself be moved with eager desire after it when its appearance is presented to thee. There is no O.T. parallel for this, but the Syr. tan and the Greek ζηλοτυποῦν are used in this double sense. Thus Hitzig rightly, and, among the moderns, Malbim; with Aben Ezra, it is necessary to take ביראת for באישׁ יראת, this proverb itself declares the fear of God to be of all things the most worthy of being coveted.

In Proverbs 23:18, Umbreit, Elster, Zckler, and others interpret the כּי as assigning a reason, and the אם as conditioning: for when the end (the hour of the righteous judgment) has come; Bertheau better, because more suitable to the ישׁ and the אחרית: when an end (an end adjusting the contradictions of the present time) comes, as no doubt it will come, then thy hope will not be destroyed; but, on the other hand, the succession of words in the conclusion (vid., at Proverbs 3:34) opposes this; also one does not see why the author does not say directly כי ישׁ אחרית, but expresses himself thus conditionally.

(Note: The form כּי אם־ does not contradict the connection of the two particles. This use of the Makkeph is general, except in these three instances: Genesis 15:4; Numbers 35:33; Nehemiah 2:2.)

If אם is meant hypothetically, then, with the lxx ἐὰν γὰρ τηρήσῃς αὐτὰ ἔκγονα, we should supply after it תּשׁמרנּה, that had fallen out. Ewald's: much rather there is yet a future (Dchsel: much rather be happy there is...), is also impossible; for the preceding clause is positive, not negative. The particles כּי אם, connected thus, mean: for if (e.g., Lamentations 3:32); or also relatively: that if (e.g., Jeremiah 26:15). After a negative clause they have the meaning of "unless," which is acquired by means of an ellipsis; e.g., Isaiah 55:10, it turns not back thither, unless it has watered the earth (it returns back not before then, not unless this is done). This "unless" is, however, used like the Lat. nisi, also without the conditioning clause following, e.g., Genesis 28:17, hic locus non est nisi domus Dei. And hence the expression כי אם, after the negation going before, acquires the meaning of "but," e.g., 17b: let not thy heart be covetous after sinners, for thou canst always be zealous for the fear of God, i.e., much rather for this, but for this. This pleonasm of אם sometimes occurs where כי is not used confirmatively, but affirmatively: the "certainly if" forms the transition, e.g., 1 Kings 20:6 (vid., Keil's Comm. l.c.), whose "if" is not seldom omitted, so that כי אם has only the meaning of an affirmative "certainly," not "truly no," which it may also have, 1 Samuel 25:34, but "truly yes." Thus כי אם is used Judges 15:7; 2 Samuel 15:21 (where אם is omitted by the Kerı̂); 2 Kings 5:20; Jeremiah 51:14; and thus it is also meant here, 18a, notwithstanding that כי אם, in its more usual signification, "besides only, but, nisi," precedes, as at 1 Samuel 21:6, cf. 5. The objection by Hitzig, that with this explanation: "certainly there is a future," Proverbs 23:18 and Proverbs 23:17 are at variance, falls to the ground, if one reflects on the Heb. idiom, in which the affirmative signification of כי is interpenetrated by the confirmative. אחרית used thus pregnantly, as here (Proverbs 24:14), is the glorious final issue; the word in itself designates the end into which human life issues (cf. Psalm 37:37.); here, the end crowning the preceding course. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:11) in this sense connects אחרית ותקוה [end and expectation]. And what is here denied of the תּקיה, the hope (not as certain Jewish interpreters dream, the thread of life) of him who zealously strives after the fear of God, is affirmed, at Psalm 37:38, of the godless: the latter have no continuance, but the former have such as is the fulfilling of his hope.