(13.) =Good is a child, poor= (מסכן, occurs chapter iv. 13, ix. 15, 16 only; the root occurs in the sense ‘profitable,’ see Job xxii. 2; the idea seems to be, that kind of poverty which is economical and sparing) =and wise from= (‘above,’ that is; the ordinary מ־ of comparison;) a =king old= (זקן, the alliteration between _miscan_ and _zakan_ gives pungency. We have rendered this in the paraphrase by a corresponding alliteration) =and befooled, who does not know= how =to= be =warned as yet.= (The allusion here to Solomon is palpable, and this may account for the apparently redundant עוד, ‘_as yet_,’ at the end of the sentence.) 14 For out of prison he │ For from a prison-house of cometh to reign; whereas │ plotters he comes forth to also _he that is_ born in his │ reign, and beside in his kingdom becometh poor. │ kingdom is the birthplace of │ meanness. (14.) =For from the house of rebels= (הסורים is considered a contraction for האסורים, ‘prison;’ but, to say the least, this is a violation of the critical canon, which bids us prefer the harder reading. That the derivation from סור, ‘to turn aside,’ hence ‘revolters,’ is contrary to the pointing, is not a valid objection, because the Masorets pointed as they did to explain a difficulty; so also the LXX., who read δεσμῶν and δεσμίων. If possible, we ought to preserve intact the unpointed text. The exact and literal meaning is, as the text stands, ‘from the house of the turners-aside,’ _i.e._ those conspirators and wicked men, sycophants, who will be flattering him to promote their own interest, and this was exactly Solomon’s case) =he goes out to reign, for= (the second כי, with the meaning ‘so’) =also= (‘moreover;’ this particle, as we have seen, usually introduces an additional reason, confirming the one which went before) =in his kingdom is begotten= (♦נולד, _noled_, a play upon ילד, _jeled_, above) =want= (רש is poverty in the sense of indigence and meanness; compare 1 Samuel xviii. 23, and Proverbs xix. 1, 7, 22; as, however, רש has the form of a concrete, we must remember that it involves the idea of a poor man, hence there is a sarcastic ambiguity, heightened by alliteration. Take the LXX. and Masorets’ sense, which is merely to allow the obvious play between הסורים and ‎‏האסורים, and the sentiment is true, and, curiously enough, equally corresponds with the history). ♦ “נלד” replaced with “נולד” The following passage is one of great difficulty, but a very careful attention to its precise wording and the equivoke it contains, may perhaps afford a solution.