10:1 The Proverbs of Solomon:
A wise child 2 makes a father rejoice, 3
but a foolish child 4 is a grief to his mother. 5
15:20 A wise child 6 brings joy to his father,
but a foolish person 7 despises 8 his mother.
23:15 My child, 9 if your heart is wise,
then my heart also will be glad;
23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; 10
whoever fathers a wise child 11 will have joy in him.
23:25 May your father and your mother have joy;
may she who bore you rejoice. 12
27:11 Be wise, my son, 13 and make my heart glad,
so that I may answer 14 anyone who taunts me. 15
1 sn Beginning with ch. 10 there is a difference in the form of the material contained in the book of Proverbs. No longer are there long admonitions, but the actual proverbs, short aphorisms dealing with right or wrong choices. Other than a few similar themes grouped together here and there, there is no arrangement to the material as a whole. It is a long collection of approximately 400 proverbs.
2 tn Heb “son.”
3 tn The imperfect tense describes progressive or habitual action, translated here with an English present tense. These fit the nature of proverbs which are general maxims, and not necessarily absolutes or universal truths. One may normally expect to find what the proverb notes, and one should live according to its instructions in the light of those expectations; but one should not be surprised if from time to time there is an exception. The fact that there may be an exception does not diminish the need to live by the sayings.
4 tn Heb “son.”
5 tn Heb “grief of his mother.” The noun “grief” is in construct, and “mother” is an objective genitive. The saying declares that the consequences of wisdom or folly affects the parents.
6 tn Heb “son.”
7 tn Heb “a fool of a man,” a genitive of specification.
8 sn The proverb is almost the same as 10:1, except that “despises” replaces “grief.” This adds the idea of the callousness of the one who inflicts grief on his mother (D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 116).
9 tn Heb “my son,” although the context does not limit this exhortation to male children.
10 tc The Qere reading has the imperfect יָגִיל (yagil) with the cognate accusative גִּיל (gil) which intensifies the meaning and the specific future of this verb.
11 tn The term “child” is supplied for the masculine singular adjective here.
12 tn The form תָגֵל (tagel) is clearly a short form and therefore a jussive (“may she…rejoice”); if this second verb is a jussive, then the parallel יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) should be a jussive also (“may your father and your mother have joy”).
13 tn Heb “my son”; the reference to a “son” is retained in the translation here because in the following lines the advice is to avoid women who are prostitutes.
14 tn The verb is the cohortative of שׁוּב (shuv); after the two imperatives that provide the instruction, this form with the vav will indicate the purpose or result (indirect volitive sequence).
15 sn The expression anyone who taunts me refers to those who would reproach or treat the sage with contempt, condemning him as a poor teacher. Teachers are often criticized for the faults and weaknesses of their students; but any teacher criticized that way takes pleasure in pointing to those who have learned as proof that he has not labored in vain (e.g., 1 Thess 2:19-20; 3:8).
16 tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.
17 tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
18 tn Grk “you will call his name John.” The future tense here functions like a command (see ExSyn 569-70). This same construction occurs in v. 31.
19 tn Grk “This will be joy and gladness.”
20 tn Or “because of.”
21 tn “At his birth” is more precise as the grammatical subject (1:58), though “at his coming” is a possible force, since it is his mission, as the following verses note, that will really bring joy.
22 tn Grk “before.”
23 tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.
24 tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.
25 tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
26 sn The word translated will turn is a good summary term for repentance and denotes John’s call to a change of direction (Luke 3:1-14).
27 tn Grk “sons”; but clearly this is a generic reference to people of both genders.
28 tn Grk “before him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 sn These two lines cover all relationships: Turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children points to horizontal relationships, while (turn) the disobedient to the wisdom of the just shows what God gives from above in a vertical manner.