4:4 he taught me, and he said to me:
“Let your heart lay hold of my words;
keep my commands so that 1 you will live.
6:22 When you walk about, 2 they 3 will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, 4 they will talk 5 to you.
8:34 Blessed is the one 6 who listens to me,
watching 7 at my doors day by day,
waiting 8 beside my doorway. 9
22:18 For it is pleasing if 10 you keep these sayings 11 within you,
and 12 they are ready on your lips. 13
1 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.”
2 tn The verbal form is the Hitpael infinitive construct with a preposition and a suffixed subjective genitive to form a temporal clause. The term הָלַךְ (halakh) in this verbal stem means “to go about; to go to and fro.” The use of these terms in v. 22 also alludes to Deut 6:7.
3 tn Heb “it will guide you.” The verb is singular and the instruction is the subject.
4 tn In both of the preceding cola an infinitive construct was used for the temporal clauses; now the construction uses a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. The verb would then be equivalent to an imperfect tense, but subordinated as a temporal clause here.
5 sn The Hebrew verb means “talk” in the sense of “to muse; to complain; to meditate”; cf. TEV, NLT “advise you.” Instruction bound to the heart will speak to the disciple on awaking.
3 tn Heb “the man.”
4 tn The form לִשְׁקֹד (lishqod) is the infinitive construct serving epexegetically in the sentence. It explains how the person will listen to wisdom.
5 tn Heb “keeping” or “guarding.”
6 tn Heb “at the posts of my doors” (so KJV, ASV).
4 tn Or “when” (so NIV).
5 tn Heb “keep them,” referring to the words of the wise expressed in these sayings. The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.
7 sn If the teachings are preserved in the heart/mind of the disciple, then that individual will always be ready to speak what was retained.