4:1 Listen, children, 2 to a father’s instruction, 3
and pay attention so that 4 you may gain 5 discernment.
4:2 Because I give 6 you good instruction, 7
do not forsake my teaching.
4:3 When I was a son to my father, 8
a tender only child 9 before my mother,
4:4 he taught me, and he said to me:
“Let your heart lay hold of my words;
keep my commands so that 10 you will live.
4:5 Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding;
do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak. 11
4:6 Do not forsake wisdom, 12 and she will protect you;
love her, and she will guard you.
1 sn The chapter includes an exhortation to acquire wisdom (1-4a), a list of the benefits of wisdom (4b-9), a call to pursue a righteous lifestyle (10-13), a warning against a wicked lifestyle (14-19), and an exhortation to righteousness (20-27).
2 tn Heb “sons.”
3 tn Heb “discipline.”
4 tn The Qal infinitive construct with preposition ל (lamed) indicates the purpose/result of the preceding imperative.
5 tn Heb “know” (so KJV, ASV).
6 tn The perfect tense has the nuance of instantaneous perfect; the sage is now calling the disciples to listen. It could also be a perfect of resolve, indicating what he is determined to do.
7 tn The word לֶקַח (leqakh, “instruction”) can be subjective (instruction acquired) or objective (the thing being taught). The latter fits best here.
8 tn Or “a boy with my father.”
9 tc The LXX introduces the ideas of “obedient” and “beloved” for these two terms. This seems to be a free rendering, if not a translation of a different Hebrew textual tradition. The MT makes good sense and requires no emendation.
10 tn The imperative with the vav expresses volitional sequence after the preceding imperative: “keep and then you will live,” meaning “keep so that you may live.”
11 tn Heb “from the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); TEV, CEV “what I say.”
12 tn Heb “her”; the 3rd person feminine singular referent is personified “wisdom,” which has been specified in the translation for clarity.