Proverbs 1:21

1:21 at the head of the noisy ¹  streets she calls,

in the entrances of the gates in the city ²  she utters her words: ³ 

Proverbs 5:8

5:8 Keep yourself ⁴  far ⁵  from her,

and do not go near the door of her house,

Proverbs 8:3

8:3 beside the gates opening into ⁶  the city,

at the entrance of the doorways she cries out: ⁷ 

Proverbs 9:14

9:14 So she sits at the door of her house,

on a seat at the highest point of the city,

Proverbs 17:19

17:19 The one who loves a quarrel loves transgression; ⁸ 

whoever builds his gate high seeks destruction. ⁹ 

Proverbs 8:34

8:34 Blessed is the one ¹⁰  who listens to me,

watching ¹¹  at my doors day by day,

waiting ¹²  beside my doorway. ¹³ 

[1:21]  ¹ tc MT reads הֹמִיּוֹת (homyyot, “noisy streets”; Qal participle feminine plural from הָמָה [hamah], “to murmur; to roar”), referring to the busy, bustling place where the street branches off from the gate complex. The LXX reads τειχέων (teicewn) which reflects חֹמוֹת (khomot), “walls” (feminine plural noun from חוֹמָה [khomah], “wall”): “She proclaims on the summits of the walls.” MT is preferred because it is the more difficult form. The LXX textual error was caused by simple omission of yod (י). In addition, the LXX expands the verse to read, “she sits at the gates of the princes, at the gates of the city she boldly says.” The shorter MT reading is preferred.

[1:21]  ² sn The phrase “in the city” further defines the area of the entrance just inside the gate complex, the business area. In an ancient Near Eastern city, business dealings and judicial proceedings would both take place in this area.

[1:21]  ³ tn Heb “she speaks her words.”

[5:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “your way.”

[5:8]  ⁵ sn There is a contrast made between “keep far away” (הַרְחֵק, harkheq) and “do not draw near” (וְאַל־תִּקְרַב, vÿ’al-tiqrav).

[8:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “at the mouth of.”

[8:3]  ⁸ tn The cry is a very loud ringing cry that could not be missed. The term רָנַן (ranan) means “to give a ringing cry.” It is often only a shrill sound that might come with a victory in battle, but its use in the psalms for praise shows that it also can have clear verbal content, as it does here. For wisdom to stand in the street and give such a ringing cry would mean that it could be heard by all. It was a proclamation.

[17:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the one who loves transgression the one who loves a quarrel.” There is some ambiguity in the first line. The meaning would not differ greatly if either were taken as the subject; but the parallelism suggests that the proverb is about a quarrelsome and arrogant person who loves sin and invites destruction.

[17:19]  ¹¹ tn Some have taken this second line literally and interpreted it to mean he has built a pretentious house. Probably it is meant to be figurative: The gate is the mouth (the figure would be hypocatastasis) and so to make it high is to say lofty things – he brags too much (e.g., 1 Sam 2:3; Prov 18:12; 29:23); cf. NCV, TEV, NLT. C. H. Toy (Proverbs [ICC], 348) wishes to emend פִּתְחוֹ (pitkho, “his gate”) to פִּיו (piv, “his mouth”), but that is unnecessary since the idea can be obtained by interpretation.

[8:34]  ¹³ tn Heb “the man.”

[8:34]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “keeping” or “guarding.”

[8:34]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “at the posts of my doors” (so KJV, ASV).