2 Chronicles 9:7-8

9:7 Your attendants, who stand before you at all times and hear your wise sayings, are truly happy! ¹  9:8 May the Lord your God be praised because he favored ²  you by placing you on his throne as the one ruling on his behalf! ³  Because of your God’s love for Israel and his lasting commitment to them, ⁴  he made you king over them so you could make just and right decisions.” ⁵ 

Proverbs 3:13-14

Blessings of Obtaining Wisdom

3:13 Blessed ⁶  is the one ⁷  who finds ⁸  wisdom,

and the one who obtains ⁹  understanding.

3:14 For her ¹⁰  benefit ¹¹  is more profitable ¹²  than silver,

and her ¹³  gain ¹⁴  is better ¹⁵  than gold.

Proverbs 8:34

8:34 Blessed is the one ¹⁶  who listens to me,

watching ¹⁷  at my doors day by day,

waiting ¹⁸  beside my doorway. ¹⁹ 

Proverbs 10:21

10:21 The teaching ²⁰  of the righteous feeds ²¹  many,

but fools die ²²  for lack of wisdom. ²³ 

Proverbs 13:20

13:20 The one who associates ²⁴  with the wise grows wise,

but a companion of fools suffers harm. ²⁵ 

Luke 10:39-42

10:39 She ²⁶  had a sister named Mary, who sat ²⁷  at the Lord’s feet ²⁸  and listened to what he said. 10:40 But Martha was distracted ²⁹  with all the preparations she had to make, ³⁰  so ³¹  she came up to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care ³²  that my sister has left me to do all the work ³³  alone? Tell ³⁴  her to help me.” 10:41 But the Lord ³⁵  answered her, ³⁶  “Martha, Martha, ³⁷  you are worried and troubled ³⁸  about many things, 10:42 but one thing ³⁹  is needed. Mary has chosen the best ⁴⁰  part; it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 11:28

11:28 But he replied, ⁴¹  “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey ⁴²  it!”

Luke 11:31

11:31 The queen of the South ⁴³  will rise up at the judgment ⁴⁴  with the people ⁴⁵  of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, ⁴⁶  something greater ⁴⁷  than Solomon is here!

[9:7]  ¹ tn Heb “How happy are your men! How happy are these servants of yours, who stand before you continually, who hear your wisdom!”

[9:8]  ² tn Or “delighted in.”

[9:8]  ³ tn Heb “as king for the Lord your God.”

[9:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “to make him stand permanently.”

[9:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “to do justice and righteousness.”

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Although the word אַשְׁרֵי (’ashre, “blessed”) is frequently translated “happy” here (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT), such a translation can be somewhat misleading because the word means more than that – “happiness” depends on one’s circumstances. This word reflects that inner joy and heavenly bliss which comes to the person who is pleasing to God, whose way is right before God.

[3:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “the man” (also again in the following line).

[3:13]  ⁸ tn The perfect tense verb may be classified as a characteristic or gnomic perfect, as the parallel imperfect tense verb suggests (see note on v. 13b).

[3:13]  ⁹ tn The imperfect tense verb may be classified as a progressive or habitual imperfect.

[3:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “her profit.” The 3rd person feminine singular suffix on the noun is probably a genitive of source: “from her.”

[3:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “profit.” The noun סַחַר (sakhar, “trading profit”) often refers to the financial profit of traveling merchants (Isa 23:3, 18; 45:14; HALOT 750 s.v.). The related participle describes a traveling “trader, dealer, wholesaler, merchant” (e.g., Gen 37:28; Prov 31:14; Isa 23:2; Ezek 27:36; HALOT 750 s.v. סחר qal.2). Here the noun is used figuratively to describe the moral benefit of wisdom.

[3:14]  ¹² tn The noun סַחַר (“profit”) is repeated in this line for emphasis. The two usages draw upon slightly different nuances, creating a polysemantic wordplay. The moral “benefit” of wisdom is more “profitable” than silver.

[3:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “her yield.” The 3rd person feminine singular suffix on the noun is probably a genitive of source: “from her.”

[3:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “yield.” The noun תְּבוּאָה (tÿvu’ah, “product; yield”) is normally used of crops and harvests (BDB 100 s.v. 1). Here it is figurative for the moral benefit of wisdom (BDB 100 s.v. 2.b).

[3:14]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase “is better” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[8:34]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the man.”

[8:34]  ¹⁷ tn The form לִשְׁקֹד (lishqod) is the infinitive construct serving epexegetically in the sentence. It explains how the person will listen to wisdom.

[8:34]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “keeping” or “guarding.”

[8:34]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “at the posts of my doors” (so KJV, ASV).

[10:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “lips.” The term “lips” functions as a metonymy of cause for what is said (or in this case taught).

[10:21]  ²¹ tn The verb רָעָה (ra’ah) means “to feed” or “to shepherd” (e.g., Gen 48:15). What they say will meet the needs of many.

[10:21]  ²² tn In what sense the fool “dies” is unclear. Fools ruin their lives and the lives of others by their lack of discipline and knowledge. The contrast is between enhancing life and ruining life.

[10:21]  ²³ tn Heb “heart.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) functions as a metonymy of association for wisdom and knowledge (BDB 524 s.v. 3.a).

[13:20]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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).

[10:39]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[10:39]  ²⁷ tn This reflexive makes it clear that Mary took the initiative in sitting by Jesus.

[10:39]  ²⁸ sn The description of Mary sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to him makes her sound like a disciple (compare Luke 8:35).

[10:40]  ²⁹ sn The term distracted means “to be pulled away” by something (L&N 25.238). It is a narrative comment that makes clear who is right in the account.

[10:40]  ³⁰ tn Grk “with much serving.”

[10:40]  ³¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that the following was a result of Martha’s distraction.

[10:40]  ³² tn The negative οὐ (ou) used with the verb expects a positive reply. Martha expected Jesus to respond and rebuke Mary.

[10:40]  ³³ tn Grk “has left me to serve alone.”

[10:40]  ³⁴ tn The conjunction οὖν (oun, “then, therefore”) has not been translated here.

[10:41]  ³⁵ tc Most mss (A B* C D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï it) read “Jesus” instead of “the Lord” here, but κύριος (kurios, “Lord”) has the support of some weighty papyri, uncials, and other witnesses (Ì^3,[45],75 א B² L 579 892 pc lat sa).

[10:41]  ³⁶ tn Grk “answering, said to her.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “answered her.”

[10:41]  ³⁷ sn The double vocative Martha, Martha communicates emotion.

[10:41]  ³⁸ tn Or “upset.” Here the meanings of μεριμνάω (merimnaw) and θορυβάζομαι (qorubazomai) reinforce each other (L&N 25.234).

[10:42]  ³⁹ tc Or, with some mss (̳ [א] B C² L 070^vid ˹ 33 [579] pc), “few things are needed – or only one” (as well as other variants). The textual problem here is a difficult one to decide. The shorter reading is normally preferred, but it is not altogether clear how the variants would arise from it. However, the reading followed in the translation has good support (with some internal variations) from a number of witnesses (Ì^45,75 A C* W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï lat sa).

[10:42]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “better”; Grk “good.” This is an instance of the positive adjective used in place of the superlative adjective. According to ExSyn 298, this could also be treated as a positive for comparative (“better”).

[11:28]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “said.”

[11:28]  ⁴² sn This is another reference to hearing and doing the word of God, which here describes Jesus’ teaching; see Luke 8:21.

[11:31]  ⁴³ sn On the queen of the South see 1 Kgs 10:1-3 and 2 Chr 9:1-12, as well as Josephus, Ant. 8.6.5-6 (8.165-175). The South most likely refers to modern southwest Arabia, possibly the eastern part of modern Yemen, although there is an ancient tradition reflected in Josephus which identifies this geo-political entity as Ethiopia.

[11:31]  ⁴⁴ sn For the imagery of judgment, see Luke 10:13-15 and 11:19. The warnings are coming consistently now.

[11:31]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “men”; the word here (ἀνήρ, anhr) usually indicates males or husbands, but occasionally is used in a generic sense of people in general, as is the case here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 1, 2). The same term, translated the same way, occurs in v. 32.

[11:31]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “behold.”

[11:31]  ⁴⁷ sn The message of Jesus was something greater than what Solomon offered. On Jesus and wisdom, see Luke 7:35; 10:21-22; 1 Cor 1:24, 30.