Pro 22:27 | NET2full | STEP | If you do not have enough to pay , your bed will be taken right out from under you!

Proverbs 22:27

27 If you do not have enough to pay,
your bed ^{▼▼tn The “bed” may be a metonymy of adjunct, meaning the garment that covers the bed (e.g., Exod 22:26). At any rate, it represents the individual’s last possession (like the English expression “the shirt off his back”).} will be taken ^{▼▼tn Heb “If you cannot pay, why should he take the bed from under you?” This rhetorical question is used to affirm the statement. The rhetorical interrogative לָמָּה (lammah, “why?”) appears in MT but not in the ancient versions; it may be in the Hebrew text by dittography.} right out from under you! ^{▼▼sn The third saying deals with rash vows: If people foolishly pledge what they have, they could lose everything (e.g., 6:1-5; 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; there is no Egyptian parallel).}