17:17
The parallel lines are similar in meaning. The phrase “for adversity” in the second line gives a specific example of “at all times” in the first line.
17a
A friend loves at all times,
17b and a brother is born for adversity.
The parallelism implies that both a true friend and a brother will show love to a person and help him. They will do this even when he is in trouble.
The proverb may imply a minor contrast between a friend and a brother. The friend chooses to show love. The brother shows love because he was born into the family. The proverb does not imply that a brother will help only in times of trouble.
17:17a
A friend loves at all times: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as loves can refer to the LORD’s love for people or a person’s love for the LORD. It can also refer to the love between a man and a woman. Here it refers to love between friends. In this context, a friend shows love by doing things that will benefit or help someone else. He shows this kind of love consistently, both in good times and in times of difficulty. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
A friend shows his friendship at all times (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Friends always show their love. (Good News Translation)
-or-
A friend is always loyal (New Living Translation (2004))
17:17b
and a brother: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as brother can refer to someone from the same tribe or country. Here it probably refers to a sibling or close relative.
is born for adversity: This phrase indicates that one of the purposes for a brother’s life is to help family members when they experience hardship or trouble.
Some ways to translate this clause are:
and a brother is born to help in time of need (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
What are relatives for if not to share trouble? (Good News Translation)
In some languages, it may not be natural to make explicit that a brother is born for a particular purpose. In the Good News Translation (quoted above), the birth of the relative is only implied.
© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.