Proverbs 6:23

6:23 For the commandments are like a lamp,

instruction is like a light,

and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life,

Proverbs 8:13

8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;

I hate arrogant pride and the evil way

and perverse utterances.


tn Heb “the commandment” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

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.

sn The terms “lamp,” “light,” and “way” are all metaphors. The positive teachings and commandments will illumine or reveal to the disciple the way to life; the disciplinary correctives will provide guidance into fullness of life.

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.

tn Heb “the way of life” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV, NLT “the way to life.” The noun “life” is a genitive following the construct “way.” It could be an attributive genitive modifying the kind of way/course of life that instruction provides, but it could also be objective in that the course of life followed would produce and lead to life.

tn The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) means “to hate.” In this sentence it functions nominally as the predicate. Fearing the Lord is hating evil.

tn Since both גֵּאָה (geah, “pride”) and גָּאוֹן (gaon, “arrogance; pride”) are both from the same verbal root גָּאָה (gaah, “to rise up”), they should here be interpreted as one idea, forming a nominal hendiadys: “arrogant pride.”

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).