Proverbs 14:30

14:30 A tranquil spirit ¹  revives the body, ² 

but envy ³  is rottenness to the bones. ⁴ 

Proverbs 14:33

14:33 Wisdom rests in the heart of the discerning;

it is known ⁵  even in the heart ⁶  of fools.

Proverbs 15:14

15:14 The discerning heart seeks knowledge,

but the mouth of fools feeds on folly. ⁷ 

Proverbs 16:23

16:23 A wise person’s heart ⁸  makes his speech wise ⁹ 

and it adds persuasiveness ¹⁰  to his words. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 17:20

17:20 The one who has a perverse heart ¹²  does not find good, ¹³ 

and the one who is deceitful in speech ¹⁴  falls into trouble.

Proverbs 18:15

18:15 The discerning person ¹⁵  acquires knowledge,

and the wise person ¹⁶  seeks ¹⁷  knowledge.

Proverbs 22:17

The Sayings of the Wise ¹⁸ 

22:17 Incline your ear ¹⁹  and listen to the words of the wise,

and apply your heart to my instruction. ²⁰ 

[14:30]  ¹ tn Heb “heart of healing.” The genitive מַרְפֵּא (marpe’, “healing”) functions as an attributive adjective: “a healing heart.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is a metonymy for the emotional state of a person (BDB 660 s.v. 6). A healthy spirit is tranquil, bringing peace to the body (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 158).

[14:30]  ² tn Heb “life of the flesh” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NIV “gives life to the body.”

[14:30]  ³ tn The term קִנְאָה (qin’ah, “envy”) refers to passionate zeal or “jealousy” (so NAB, NCV, TEV, NLT), depending on whether the object is out of bounds or within one’s rights. In the good sense one might be consumed with zeal to defend the institutions of the sanctuary. But as envy or jealousy the word describes an intense and sometimes violent excitement and desire that is never satisfied.

[14:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “rottenness of bones.” The term “bones” may be a synecdoche representing the entire body; it is in contrast with “flesh” of the first colon. One who is consumed with envy finds no tranquility or general sense of health in body or spirit.

[14:33]  ⁵ tn The LXX negates the clause, saying it is “not known in fools” (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, NLT). Thomas connects the verb to the Arabic root wd` and translates it “in fools it is suppressed.” See D. W. Thomas, “The Root ידע in Hebrew,” JTS 35 (1934): 302-3.

[14:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the inner part”; ASV “in the inward part”; NRSV “in the heart of fools.”

[15:14]  ⁹ tn The idea expressed in the second colon does not make a strong parallelism with the first with its emphasis on seeking knowledge. Its poetic image of feeding (a hypocatastasis) would signify the acquisition of folly – the fool has an appetite for it. D. W. Thomas suggests the change of one letter, ר (resh) to ד (dalet), to obtain a reading יִדְעֶה (yid’eh); this he then connects to an Arabic root da`a with the meaning “sought, demanded” to form what he thinks is a better parallel (“Textual and Philological Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 285). But even though the parallelism is not as precise as some would prefer, there is insufficient warrant for such a change.

[16:23]  ¹³ tn Or “mind” (cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[16:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “makes wise his mouth,” with “mouth” being a metonymy of cause for what is said: “speech.”

[16:23]  ¹⁵ sn Those who are wise say wise things. The proverb uses synthetic parallelism: The first line asserts that the wise heart ensures that what is said is wise, and the second line adds that such a person increases the reception of what is said.

[16:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to his lips.” The term “lips” functions as a metonymy of cause for what is said.

[17:20]  ¹⁷ tn The verse parallels two descriptions of the wicked person: “crooked/perverse of heart” (genitive of specification), and “turned away in his tongue” (deceitful). The first phrase describes twisted intentions. The second, using the Niphal participle (“one turned away”) with “tongue,” the metonymy of cause, describes one who has turned away from speaking truth. Cf. NLT “the twisted tongue tumbles into trouble.”

[17:20]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “does not find good” is a figure (tapeinosis) meaning, “will experience calamity.” The wicked person can expect trouble ahead.

[17:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “tongue”; NIV “whose tongue is deceitful.”

[18:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “discerning heart.” The term “heart” is a synecdoche of part (= heart) for the whole (= person); cf. TEV, NLT “intelligent people.” By paralleling “heart” and “ear” the proverb stresses the full acquisition of knowledge. The “ear” listens to instruction, and the heart considers what is heard to acquire knowledge.

[18:15]  ²² tn Heb “the ear of the wise.” The term “ear” is a synecdoche of part (= ear) for the whole (= person): “wise person.”

[18:15]  ²³ sn This line features a mixed metaphor: The “ear” is pictured “seeking.” The “ear of the wise” actually means the wise person’s capacity to hear, and so the wise are seeking as they hear.

[22:17]  ²⁵ sn A new collection of sayings begins here, forming the fourth section of the book of Proverbs. This collection is not like that of 1:1–9:18; here the introductory material is more personal than 1:1-7, and the style differs, showing great similarity to the Instruction of Amenemope in Egypt (especially the thirty precepts of the sages in 22:17–24:22). Verses 17-21 form the introduction, and then the sayings begin in v. 22. After the thirty sayings are given, there are further sayings in 24:23-34. There is much literature on this material: see W. K. Simpson, ed., Literature of Ancient Egypt; ANET 412-425; and A. Cody, “Notes on Proverbs 22:21 and 22:23b,” Bib 61 (1980): 418-26.

[22:17]  ²⁶ sn To “incline the ear” means to “listen carefully” (cf. NCV); the expression is metonymical in that the ear is the instrument for hearing. It is like telling someone to lean over to hear better.

[22:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “knowledge” (so KJV, NASB); in this context it refers to the knowledge that is spoken by the wise, hence “instruction.”