Deuteronomy 17:13

17:13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.

Deuteronomy 19:20

19:20 The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you.

Proverbs 19:25

19:25 Flog ¹  a scorner, and as a result the simpleton ²  will learn prudence; ³ 

correct a discerning person, and as a result he will understand knowledge. ⁴ 

Proverbs 21:11

21:11 When a scorner is punished, the naive ⁵  becomes wise;

when a wise person is instructed, ⁶  he gains knowledge.

Proverbs 21:1

21:1 The king’s heart ⁷  is in the hand ⁸  of the Lord like channels of water; ⁹ 

he turns it wherever he wants.

Proverbs 5:20

5:20 But why should you be captivated, ¹⁰  my son, by an adulteress,

and embrace the bosom of a different woman? ¹¹ 

[19:25]  ¹ tn The Hiphil imperfect תַּכֶּה (takeh) is followed by another imperfect. It could be rendered: “strike a scorner [imperfect of instruction] and a simpleton will become prudent.” But the first of the parallel verbs can also be subordinated to the second as a temporal or conditional clause. Some English versions translate “beat” (NAB “if you beat an arrogant man”), but this could be understood to refer to competition rather than physical punishment. Therefore “flog” has been used in the translation, since it is normally associated with punishment or discipline.

[19:25]  ² sn Different people learn differently. There are three types of people in this proverb: the scorner with a closed mind, the simpleton with an empty mind, and the discerning person with an open mind (D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 135). The simpleton learns by observing a scoffer being punished, even though the punishment will have no effect on the scoffer.

[19:25]  ³ sn The word is related to “shrewdness” (cf. 1:4). The simpleton will learn at least where the traps are and how to avoid them.

[19:25]  ⁴ tn The second half begins with הוֹכִיחַ (hokhiakh), the Hiphil infinitive construct. This parallels the imperfect tense beginning the first half; it forms a temporal or conditional clause as well, so that the main verb is “he will understand.”

[21:11]  ⁵ sn The contrast here is between the simple and the wise. The simple gain wisdom when they see the scorner punished; the wise gains knowledge through instruction. The scorner does not change, but should be punished for the benefit of the simple (e.g., Prov 19:25).

[21:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the instructing of the wise.” The construction uses the Hiphil infinitive construct הַשְׂכִּיל (haskil) with a preposition to form a temporal clause (= “when”). The word “wise” (חָכָם, khakham) after it is the subjective genitive. The preposition לְ (lamed) on the form is probably dittography from the ending of the infinitive.

[21:1]  ⁷ sn “Heart” is a metonymy of subject; it signifies the ability to make decisions, if not the decisions themselves.

[21:1]  ⁸ sn “Hand” in this passage is a personification; the word is frequently used idiomatically for “power,” and that is the sense intended here.

[21:1]  ⁹ tn “Channels of water” (פַּלְגֵי, palge) is an adverbial accusative, functioning as a figure of comparison – “like channels of water.” Cf. NAB “Like a stream”; NIV “watercourse”; NRSV, NLT “a stream of water.”

[5:20]  ¹⁰ tn In the interrogative clause the imperfect has a deliberative nuance.

[5:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “foreigner” (so ASV, NASB), but this does not mean that the woman is non-Israelite. This term describes a woman who is outside the moral boundaries of the covenant community – she is another man’s wife, but since she acts with moral abandonment she is called “foreign.”