“Do not say to your neighbor, “Go and come again. . .””: This verse is an encouragement to give promptly and willingly. “Your neighbor” may be another person, someone you interact with, a fellow citizen, or, more intimately, a friend or companion. Verse 27 shows this to be a person who has need of something. “Go and come again” or “Go away and come back later” is the first part of what is not to be said to the person in need.

“Tomorrow I will give it” is the completion of the quote and a way to delay acting on the neighbor’s request or need.

“When you have it with you”: “It” refers to the thing that has been requested or the thing that the neighbor is in need of. “You” is the person who is addressed by the teacher of wisdom, and who is cautioned not to behave in this way.

Translators may find it awkward to translate this verse in the Revised Standard Version form. By switching to indirect address it may be possible to get a clearer expression of the meaning. For example, Contemporary English Version has “Don’t tell your neighbor to come back tomorrow, if you can help today.”

In some cases this may need to be expanded to say, for example, “Don’t tell your neighbor to come back tomorrow to get something, if you can give it to him today.”

As in the previous verse, it will be more natural in some languages to put the last clause at the beginning: “If you are able to help your neighbor when he asks for something, don’t say, ‘Come back tomorrow and I will give it to you.’”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .