2 Chronicles 16:9

16:9 Certainly ¹  the Lord watches the whole earth carefully ²  and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him. ³  You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war.

Proverbs 9:6

9:6 Abandon your foolish ways ⁴  so that you may live, ⁵ 

and proceed ⁶  in the way of understanding.”

Proverbs 13:20

13:20 The one who associates ⁷  with the wise grows wise,

but a companion of fools suffers harm. ⁸ 

Hebrews 12:6

12:6 “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.” ⁹ 

Revelation 3:19

3:19 All those ¹⁰  I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!

[16:9]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[16:9]  ² tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord move quickly through all the earth.”

[16:9]  ³ tn Heb “to strengthen himself with their heart, [the one] complete toward him.”

[9:6]  ⁴ tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[9:6]  ⁵ tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.

[9:6]  ⁶ tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).

[13:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “walks.” When used with the preposition אֶת (’et, “with”), the verb הָלַךְ (halakh, “to walk”) means “to associate with” someone (BDB 234 s.v. הָלַךְ II.3.b; e.g., Mic 6:8; Job 34:8). The active participle of הָלַךְ (“to walk”) stresses continual, durative action. One should stay in close association with the wise, and move in the same direction they do.

[13:20]  ⁸ tn The verb form יֵרוֹעַ (yeroa’) is the Niphal imperfect of רָעַע (ra’a’), meaning “to suffer hurt.” Several have attempted to parallel the repetition in the wordplay of the first colon. A. Guillaume has “he who associates with fools will be left a fool” (“A Note on the Roots רִיע, יָרַע, and רָעַע in Hebrew,” JTS 15 [1964]: 294). Knox translated the Vulgate thus: “Fool he ends that fool befriends” (cited by D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 104).

[12:6]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Prov 3:11-12.

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (Josos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”