1:7 Fearing the Lord 1 is the beginning 2 of moral knowledge, 3
but 4 fools 5 despise 6 wisdom and instruction. 7
2:5 then you will understand 8 how to fear the Lord, 9
and you will discover 10 knowledge 11 about God. 12
9:10 The beginning 13 of wisdom is to fear the Lord, 14
and acknowledging 15 the Holy One 16 is understanding.
10:27 Fearing the Lord 17 prolongs life, 18
but the life span 19 of the wicked will be shortened. 20
14:27 The fear of the Lord 21 is like 22 a life-giving fountain, 23
to turn 24 people 25 from deadly snares. 26
15:33 The fear of the Lord provides wise instruction, 27
and before honor comes humility. 28
19:23 Fearing the Lord 29 leads 30 to life, 31
and one who does so will live 32 satisfied; he will not be afflicted 33 by calamity.
22:4 The reward 34 for humility 35 and fearing the Lord 36
is riches and honor and life.
8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate 37 evil;
I hate arrogant pride 38 and the evil way
and perverse utterances. 39
31:30 Charm is deceitful 40 and beauty is fleeting, 41
but a woman who fears the Lord 42 will be praised.
1 tn Heb “fear of the
2 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
3 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”).
4 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.
5 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).
6 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.
7 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”).
8 tn The verb בִּין (bin, “to perceive; to understand; to discern”) refers to ability to grasp, discern or be sensitive to what it means to fear the
9 tn Heb “the fear of the
10 tn Heb “find” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
11 tn The term דַּעַת (da’at, “knowledge”) goes beyond cognition; it is often used metonymically (cause) for obedience (effect); see, e.g., Prov 3:6, “in all your ways acknowledge him,” and BDB 395 s.v. This means that the disciple will follow God’s moral code; for to know God is to react ethically and spiritually to his will (e.g., J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 18).
12 tn Heb “knowledge of God.” The noun is an objective genitive.
15 sn The difference between תְּחִלַּת (tÿkhillat) here and רֵאשִׁית (re’shit) of 1:7, if there is any substantial difference, is that this term refers to the starting point of wisdom, and the earlier one indicates the primary place of wisdom (K&D 16:202).
16 tn Heb “fear of the
17 tn Heb “knowledge of the Holy One” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
18 tn The word is in the plural in the Hebrew (literally “holy ones”; KJV “the holy”). It was translated “holy men” in Tg. Prov 9:10. But it probably was meant to signify the majestic nature of the
22 tn Heb “the fear of the
23 tn Heb “days” (so KJV, ASV).
24 tn Heb “years.” The term “years” functions as a synecdoche of part (= years) for the whole (= lifespan).
25 sn This general saying has to be qualified with the problem of the righteous suffering and dying young, a problem that perplexed the sages of the entire ancient world. But this is the general principle: The righteous live longer because their life is the natural one and because God blesses them.
29 sn The verse is similar to Prov 13:14 except that “the fear of the
30 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.
31 tn Heb “fountain of life.”
32 tn The infinitive construct with prefixed ל (lamed) indicates the purpose/result of the first line; it could also function epexegetically, explaining how fear is a fountain: “by turning….”
33 tn The term “people” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.
34 tn Heb “snares of death” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); CEV “deadly traps.”
36 tn Heb “[is] instruction of wisdom” (KJV and NASB similar). The noun translated “wisdom” is an attributive genitive: “wise instruction.”
37 tn Heb “[is] humility” (so KJV). The second clause is a parallel idea in that it stresses how one thing leads to another – humility to honor. Humble submission in faith to the
43 tn Heb “the fear of the
44 tn The term “leads” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and style.
45 tn Here “life” is probably a metonymy of subject for “blessings and prosperity in life.” The plural form often covers a person’s “lifetime.”
46 tn The subject of this verb is probably the one who fears the
47 tn Heb “he will not be visited” (so KJV, ASV). The verb פָּקַד (paqad) is often translated “visit.” It describes intervention that will change the destiny. If God “visits” it means he intervenes to bless or to curse. To be “visited by trouble” means that calamity will interfere with the course of life and change the direction or the destiny. Therefore this is not referring to a minor trouble that one might briefly experience. A life in the
50 tn The Hebrew term עֵקֶב (’eqev, “reward”) is related to the term meaning “heel”; it refers to the consequences or the reward that follows (akin to the English expression “on the heels of”).
51 tn “Humility” is used here in the religious sense of “piety”; it is appropriately joined with “the fear of the
52 tn Heb “the fear of the
57 tn The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) means “to hate.” In this sentence it functions nominally as the predicate. Fearing the
58 tn Since both גֵּאָה (ge’ah, “pride”) and גָּאוֹן (ga’on, “arrogance; pride”) are both from the same verbal root גָּאָה (ga’ah, “to rise up”), they should here be interpreted as one idea, forming a nominal hendiadys: “arrogant pride.”
59 tn Heb “and a mouth of perverse things.” The word “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what is said; and the noun תַהְפֻּכוֹת (tahpukhot, “perverse things”) means destructive things (the related verb is used for the overthrowing of Sodom).
64 tn The first word of the twenty-first line begins with שׁ (shin), the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The graphic distinction between שׁ (shin) and שׂ (sin) had not been made at the time the book of Proverbs was written; that graphic distinction was introduced by the Masoretes, ca.
65 sn The verse shows that “charm” and “beauty” do not endure as do those qualities that the fear of the
66 sn This chapter describes the wise woman as fearing the