4:9 She will place a fair 1 garland on your head;
she will bestow 2 a beautiful crown 3 on you.”
12:4 A noble wife 4 is the crown 5 of her husband,
but the wife 6 who acts shamefully is like rottenness in his bones. 7
16:31 Gray hair is like 8 a crown of glory; 9
it is attained 10 in the path of righteousness. 11
17:6 Grandchildren 12 are like 13 a crown 14 to the elderly,
and the glory 15 of children is their parents. 16
62:3 You will be a majestic crown in the hand of the Lord,
a royal turban in the hand of your God.
62:1 “For the sake of Zion I will not be silent;
for the sake of Jerusalem 17 I will not be quiet,
until her vindication shines brightly 18
and her deliverance burns like a torch.”
5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard
beyond what I have already done?
When I waited for it to produce edible grapes,
why did it produce sour ones instead?
4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
since you created all things,
and because of your will they existed and were created!” 22
1 sn The personification of wisdom continues with the bestowal of a wreath for the head (e.g., 1:9). The point is that grace will be given to the individual like a wreath about the head.
2 tn The verb מָגַן (magan) is a Piel (denominative) verb from the noun “shield.” Here it means “to bestow” (BDB 171 s.v.).
3 sn This verse uses wedding imagery: The wife (wisdom) who is embraced by her husband (the disciple) will place the wedding crown on the head of her new bridegroom. Wisdom, like a virtuous wife, will crown the individual with honor and grace.
4 tn Heb “a wife of virtue”; NAB, NLT “a worthy wife.” This noble woman (אֵשֶׁת־חַיִל, ’shet-khayil) is the subject of Prov 31. She is a “virtuous woman” (cf. KJV), a capable woman of noble character. She is contrasted with the woman who is disgraceful (מְבִישָׁה, mÿvishah; “one who causes shame”) or who lowers his standing in the community.
5 sn The metaphor of the “crown” emphasizes that such a wife is a symbol of honor and glory.
6 tn Heb “she”; the referent (the wife) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 sn The simile means that the shameful acts of such a woman will eat away her husband’s strength and influence and destroy his happiness.
8 tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.
9 sn The proverb presents the ideal, for it is not concerned with old people who may be evil. The KJV tried to qualify the interpretation by making the second half of the verse a conditional clause (“if it be found in the way of righteousness”). This is acceptable but unnecessary. The book of Proverbs is simply laying out the equity of longevity for righteousness and premature death for wicked people. In this line “gray hair” is a metonymy of adjunct/effect, representing old age; and the “glorious crown” (taking the genitive as attributive) provides a fitting metaphor to compare the hair on the head with a crown.
10 tn Heb “it is found” (so NASB) or “it will be found.”
11 sn While the proverb presents a general observation, there is a commendable lesson about old people who can look back on a long walk with God through life and can anticipate unbroken fellowship with him in glory.
12 tn Heb “children of children [sons of sons].”
13 tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
14 sn The metaphor signifies that grandchildren are like a crown, that is, they are the “crowning glory” of life. The proverb comes from a culture that places great importance on the family in society and that values its heritage.
15 tn The noun תִּפְאָרָת (tif’arat) means “beauty; glory” (BDB 802 s.v.). In this passage “glory” seems to be identified with “glorying; boasting”; so a rendering that children are proud of their parents would be in order. Thus, “glory of children” would be a subjective genitive, the glorying that children do.”
16 tc The LXX has inserted: “To the faithful belongs the whole world of wealth, but to the unfaithful not an obulus.” It was apparently some popular sentiment at the time.
17 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
18 tn Heb “goes forth like brightness.”
19 tn Grk “the twenty-four elders fall down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”
20 sn See the note on the word crown in Rev 3:11.
21 tn The pronoun “his” is understood from the demonstrative force of the article τοῦ (tou) before θρόνου (qronou).
22 tc The past tense of “they existed” (ἦσαν, hsan) and the order of the expression “they existed and were created” seems backwards both logically and chronologically. The text as it stands is the more difficult reading and seems to have given rise to codex A omitting the final “they were created,” 2329 replacing “they existed” (ἦσαν) with “have come into being” (ἐγένοντο, egeneto), and 046 adding οὐκ (ouk, “not”) before ἦσαν (“they did not exist, [but were created]”). Several