Discovery BoxProverbs 1:22-23
Context1:22 “How long will you simpletons 1 love naiveté? 2
How long 3 will mockers 4 delight 5 in mockery 6
and fools 7 hate knowledge?
1:23 If only 8 you will respond 9 to my rebuke, 10
then 11 I will pour 12 out my thoughts 13 to you
and 14 I will make 15 my words known to you.
Proverbs 8:5
Context8:5 You who are naive, discern 16 wisdom!
And you fools, understand discernment! 17
Proverbs 9:4-6
Context9:4 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,”
she says 18 to those 19 who lack understanding. 20
9:5 “Come, eat 21 some of my food,
and drink some of the wine I have mixed. 22
9:6 Abandon your foolish ways 23 so that you may live, 24
and proceed 25 in the way of understanding.”
Psalms 19:7
Context19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect
and preserves one’s life. 26
The rules set down by the Lord 27 are reliable 28
and impart wisdom to the inexperienced. 29
Psalms 119:130
Context119:130 Your instructions are a doorway through which light shines. 30
They give 31 insight to the untrained. 32
Isaiah 35:8
Context35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –
it will be called the Way of Holiness. 33
The unclean will not travel on it;
it is reserved for those authorized to use it 34 –
fools 35 will not stray into it.
[1:22] 1 tn Wisdom addresses three types of people: simpletons (פְּתָיִם, pÿtayim), scoffers (לֵצִים, letsim) and fools (כְּסִילִים, kÿsilim). For the term “simpleton” see note on 1:4. Each of these three types of people is satisfied with the life being led and will not listen to reason. See J. A. Emerton, “A Note on the Hebrew Text of Proverbs 1:22-23,” JTS 19 (1968): 609-14.
[1:22] 2 tn Heb “simplicity” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “inanity.” The noun פֶּתִי (peti) means “simplicity; lack of wisdom” (BDB 834 s.v.; HALOT 989 s.v. II פֶּתִי). It is related to the term פְּתָיִם (pÿtayim) “simpletons” and so forms a striking wordplay. This lack of wisdom and moral simplicity is inherent in the character of the naive person.
[1:22] 3 tn The second instance of “How long?” does not appear in the Hebrew text; it is supplied in the translation for smoothness and style.
[1:22] 4 sn The term לֵצִים (leysim, “scoffers; mockers”) comes from the root לִיץ (lits, “to scorn; to mock; to speak indirectly” (BDB 539 s.v. לִיץ). They are cynical and defiant freethinkers who ridicule the righteous and all for which they stand (e.g., Ps 1:1).
[1:22] 5 tn Heb “delight.” The verb (חָמַד, khamad) is often translated “to take pleasure; to delight” but frequently has the meaning of a selfish desire, a coveting of something. It is the term, for example, used for coveting in the Decalogue (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21) and for the covetous desire of Eve (Gen 3:6) and Achan (Josh 7:21). It is tempting to nuance it here as “illicit desire” for mockery.
[1:22] 6 tn Heb “for themselves.” The ethical dative לָהֶם (lahem, “for themselves”) is normally untranslated. It is a rhetorical device emphasizing that they take delight in mockery for their own self-interests.
[1:22] 7 sn The term “fool” (כְּסִיל, kÿsil) refers to the morally insensitive dullard (BDB 493 s.v.).
[1:23] 8 tn The imperfect tense is in the conditional protasis without the conditional particle, followed by the clause beginning with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “then”). The phrase “If only…” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the syntax; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
[1:23] 9 tn Heb “turn.” The verb is from שׁוּב (shuv, “to return; to respond; to repent”).
[1:23] 10 sn The noun תּוֹכַחַת (tokhakhat, “rebuke”) is used in all kinds of disputes including rebuking, arguing, reasoning, admonishing, and chiding. The term is broad enough to include here warning and rebuke. Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “reproof”; TEV “when I reprimand you”; CEV “correct you.”
[1:23] 12 tn The Hiphil cohortative of נָבַע (nava’, “to pour out”) describes the speaker’s resolution to pour out wisdom on those who respond.
[1:23] 13 tn Heb “my spirit.” The term “spirit” (רוּחַ, ruakh) functions as a metonymy (= spirit) of association (= thoughts), as indicated by the parallelism with “my words” (דְּבָרַי, dÿbaray). The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) can have a cognitive nuance, e.g., “spirit of wisdom” (Exod 28:3; Deut 34:9). It is used metonymically for “words” (Job 20:3) and “mind” (Isa 40:13; Ezek 11:5; 20:32; 1 Chr 28:12; see BDB 925 s.v. רוּחַ 6). The “spirit of wisdom” produces skill and capacity necessary for success (Isa 11:2; John 7:37-39).
[1:23] 14 tn The conjunction “and” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.
[1:23] 15 tn Here too the form is the cohortative, stressing the resolution of wisdom to reveal herself to the one who responds.
[8:5] 16 tn The imperative of בִּין (bin) means “to understand; to discern.” The call is for the simple to understand what wisdom is, not just to gain it.
[8:5] 17 tn Heb “heart.” The noun לֵב (lev, “heart”) often functions metonymically for wisdom, understanding, discernment.
[9:4] 18 tn Heb “lacking of heart she says to him.” The pronominal suffix is a resumptive pronoun, meaning, “she says to the lacking of heart.”
[9:4] 20 tn Heb “heart”; cf. NIV “to those who lack judgment.”
[9:5] 21 tn The construction features a cognate accusative (verb and noun from same root). The preposition בּ (bet) has the partitive use “some” (GKC 380 §119.m).
[9:5] 22 tn The final verb actually stands in a relative clause although the relative pronoun is not present; it modifies “wine.”
[9:6] 23 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] 24 tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.
[9:6] 25 tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).
[19:7] 26 tn Heb “[it] restores life.” Elsewhere the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) when used with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) as object, means to “rescue or preserve one’s life” (Job 33:30; Ps 35:17) or to “revive one’s strength” (emotionally or physically; cf. Ruth 4:15; Lam 1:11, 16, 19). Here the point seems to be that the law preserves the life of the one who studies it by making known God’s will. Those who know God’s will know how to please him and can avoid offending him. See v. 11a.
[19:7] 27 tn Traditionally, “the testimony of the
[19:7] 28 tn God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.
[19:7] 29 tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly.
[119:130] 30 tn Heb “the doorway of your words gives light.” God’s “words” refer here to the instructions in his law (see vv. 9, 57).
[119:130] 31 tn Heb “it [i.e., the doorway] gives.”
[119:130] 32 tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Pss 19:7; 116:6.
[35:8] 33 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.
[35:8] 34 tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.
[35:8] 35 tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.
