28:28 And he said to mankind,
‘The fear of the Lord 1 – that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” 2
19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect
and preserves one’s life. 3
The rules set down by the Lord 4 are reliable 5
and impart wisdom to the inexperienced. 6
111:10 To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living; 7
all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight. 8
He will receive praise forever. 9
119:98 Your commandments 10 make me wiser than my enemies,
for I am always aware of them.
119:99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your rules.
119:100 I am more discerning than those older than I,
for I observe your precepts.
1:7 Fearing the Lord 11 is the beginning 12 of moral knowledge, 13
but 14 fools 15 despise 16 wisdom and instruction. 17
14:8 The wisdom of the shrewd person 18 is to discern 19 his way,
but the folly of fools is deception. 20
8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.
They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. 21
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom do they really have?
3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. 29
1 tc A number of medieval Hebrew manuscripts have YHWH (“
2 tc Many commentators delete this verse because (1) many read the divine name Yahweh (translated “
3 tn Heb “[it] restores life.” Elsewhere the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) when used with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) as object, means to “rescue or preserve one’s life” (Job 33:30; Ps 35:17) or to “revive one’s strength” (emotionally or physically; cf. Ruth 4:15; Lam 1:11, 16, 19). Here the point seems to be that the law preserves the life of the one who studies it by making known God’s will. Those who know God’s will know how to please him and can avoid offending him. See v. 11a.
4 tn Traditionally, “the testimony of the
5 tn God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.
6 tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly.
7 tn Heb “the beginning of wisdom [is] the fear of the
8 tn Heb “good sense [is] to all who do them.” The third masculine plural pronominal suffix must refer back to the “precepts” mentioned in v. 7. In the translation the referent has been specified for clarity. The phrase שֵׂכֶל טוֹב (shekhel tov) also occurs in Prov 3:4; 13:15 and 2 Chr 30:22.
9 tn Heb “his praise stands forever.”
10 tn The plural form needs to be revocalized as a singular in order to agree with the preceding singular verb and the singular pronoun in the next line. The
11 tn Heb “fear of the
12 tn The noun רֵאשִׁית (re’shit) has a two-fold range of meaning (BDB 912 s.v.): (1) “beginning” = first step in a course of action (e.g., Ps 111:10; Prov 17:14; Mic 1:13) or (2) “chief thing” as the principal aspect of something (e.g., Prov 4:7). So fearing the
13 tn Heb “knowledge.” The noun דָּעַת (da’at, “knowledge”) refers to experiential knowledge, not just cognitive knowledge, including the intellectual assimilation and practical application (BDB 394 s.v.). It is used in parallelism to מוּסָר (musar, “instruction, discipline”) and חָכְמָה (khokhmah, “wisdom, moral skill”).
14 tn The conjunction “but” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the antithetical parallelism. It is supplied in the translation for clarity.
15 tn The term אֱוִיל (’evil, “fool”) refers to a person characterized by moral folly (BDB 17 s.v.). Fools lack understanding (10:21), do not store up knowledge (10:14), fail to attain wisdom (24:7), and refuse correction (15:5; 27:22). They are arrogant (26:5), talk loosely (14:3) and are contentious (20:3). They might have mental intelligence but they are morally foolish. In sum, they are stubborn and “thick-brained” (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 6).
16 tn The verb of בָּזָה (bazah, “despise”) means to treat things of value with contempt, as if they were worthless (BDB 102 s.v.). The classic example is Esau who despised his birthright and sold it for lentil stew (Gen 25:34). The perfect tense of this verb may be classified as characteristic perfect (what they have done and currently do) or gnomic perfect (what they always do in past, present and future). The latter is preferred; this describes a trait of fools, and elsewhere the book says that fools do not change.
17 sn Hebrew word order is emphatic here. Normal word order is: verb + subject + direct object. Here it is: direct object + subject + verb (“wisdom and instruction fools despise”).
18 tn Or “the prudent [person]” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).
19 tn The Hiphil infinitive construct denotes purpose. Those who are shrewd will use it to give careful consideration to all their ways.
20 tn The word means “deception,” but some suggest “self-deception” here (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 466; and D. W. Thomas, “Textual and Philological Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 286); cf. NLT “fools deceive themselves.” The parallelism would favor this, but there is little support for it. The word usually means “craft practiced on others.” If the line is saying the fool is deceitful, there is only a loose antithesis between the cola.
21 tn Heb “be trapped.” However, the word “trapped” generally carries with it the connotation of divine judgment. See BDB 540 s.v. לָכַד Niph.2, and compare usage in Jer 6:11 for support. The verbs in the first two lines are again the form of the Hebrew verb that emphasizes that the action is as good as done (Hebrew prophetic perfects).
22 tc MT, 4QJera and LXX read “the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven,” but 4QJerc reads “the sun and all the stars.”
23 tn Heb “the sun, moon, and host of heaven which they…”
24 tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.
25 tn Heb “they will not” but the referent is far enough removed that it might be ambiguous.
26 tn Heb “like dung/manure on the surface of the ground.”
27 tn Heb “shepherds.”
28 tn Heb “after/according to my [own] heart.”
29 tn Grk “works in the gentleness of wisdom.”