Proverbs 23:23

23:23 Acquire ¹  truth and do not sell it –

wisdom, and discipline, and understanding.

Isaiah 55:1

The Lord Gives an Invitation

55:1 “Hey, ²  all who are thirsty, come to the water!

You who have no money, come!

Buy and eat!

Come! Buy wine and milk

without money and without cost! ³ 

Revelation 3:18

3:18 take my advice ⁴  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ⁵  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ⁶  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ⁷  to put on your eyes so you can see!

[23:23]  ¹ tn Heb “buy” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT); CEV “Invest in truth.”

[55:1]  ² tn The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments and is often prefixed to judgment oracles for rhetorical effect. But here it appears to be a simple interjection, designed to grab the audience’s attention. Perhaps there is a note of sorrow or pity. See BDB 223 s.v.

[55:1]  ³ sn The statement is an oxymoron. Its ironic quality adds to its rhetorical impact. The statement reminds one of the norm (one must normally buy commodities) as it expresses the astounding offer. One might paraphrase the statement: “Come and take freely what you normally have to pay for.”

[3:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

[3:18]  ⁵ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

[3:18]  ⁶ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

[3:18]  ⁷ sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).