Proverbs 14:6

14:6 The scorner ¹  seeks wisdom but finds none, ² 

but understanding is easy ³  for a discerning person.

Proverbs 15:24

15:24 The path of life is upward ⁴  for the wise person, ⁵ 

to ⁶  keep him from going downward to Sheol. ⁷ 

Proverbs 17:24

17:24 Wisdom is directly in front of ⁸  the discerning person,

but the eyes of a fool run ⁹  to the ends of the earth. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 10:5

10:5 He is secure at all times. ¹¹ 

He has no regard for your commands; ¹² 

he disdains all his enemies. ¹³ 

Psalms 92:5-6

92:5 How great are your works, O Lord!

Your plans are very intricate! ¹⁴ 

92:6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;

the fool does not understand this. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 92:1

Psalm 92 ¹⁶ 

A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.

92:1 It is fitting ¹⁷  to thank the Lord,

and to sing praises to your name, O sovereign One! ¹⁸ 

Colossians 2:14

2:14 He has destroyed ¹⁹  what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness ²⁰  expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

[14:6]  ¹ sn The “scorner” (לֵץ, lets) is intellectually arrogant; he lacks any serious interest in knowledge or religion. He pursues wisdom in a superficial way so that he can appear wise. The acquisition of wisdom is conditioned by one’s attitude toward it (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 149).

[14:6]  ² tn Heb “and there is not.”

[14:6]  ³ sn The Niphal of קָלַל (qalal) means “to appear light; to appear trifling; to appear easy.”

[15:24]  ⁴ tn There is disagreement over the meaning of the term translated “upward.” The verse is usually taken to mean that “upward” is a reference to physical life and well-being (cf. NCV), and “going down to Sheol” is a reference to physical death, that is, the grave, because the concept of immortality is said not to appear in the book of Proverbs. The proverb then would mean that the wise live long and healthy lives. But W. McKane argues (correctly) that “upwards” in contrast to Sheol, does not fit the ways of describing the worldly pattern of conduct and that it is only intelligible if taken as a reference to immortality (Proverbs [OTL], 480). The translations “upwards” and “downwards” are not found in the LXX. This has led some commentators to speculate that these terms were not found in the original, but were added later, after the idea of immortality became prominent. However, this is mere speculation.

[15:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “to the wise [man],” because the form is masculine.

[15:24]  ⁶ tn The term לְמַעַן (lema’an, “in order to”) introduces a purpose clause; the path leads upward in order to turn the wise away from Sheol.

[15:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “to turn from Sheol downward”; cf. NAB “the nether world below.”

[17:24]  ⁸ tn The verse begins with אֶת־פְּנֵי מֵבִין (’et-pÿni mevin), “before the discerning” or “the face of the discerning.” The particle אֶת here is simply drawing emphasis to the predicate (IBHS 182-83 §10.3.2b). Cf. NIV “A discerning man keeps wisdom in view.”

[17:24]  ⁹ tn The term “run” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:24]  ¹⁰ sn To say that “the eyes of the fool run to the ends of the earth” means that he has no power to concentrate and cannot focus his attention on anything. The language is hyperbolic. Cf. NCV “the mind of a fool wanders everywhere.”

[10:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they are firm, his ways, at every time.” The verb חַיִל (khayil, “be firm, be strong”) occurs only here and in Job 20:21, where it has the sense “endure.”

[10:5]  ¹² tc Heb “[on a] height, your judgments from before him.” If the MT is retained, then the idea may be that God’s “judgments” are high above (i.e., not recognized) by the wicked man. However, the syntax is awkward. The translation assumes an emendation of מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) to סָרוּ (saru, “[your judgments] are turned aside”), the final mem (ם) being dittographic (note the initial mem on the immediately following word [מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, mishÿfatekha, “your judgments”). “Judgments” probably refers here to God’s laws or commands, rather than his judicial decisions or acts of judgment.

[10:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “all his enemies, he snorts against them.” This may picture the wicked man defiantly challenging his enemies because he is confident of success. Another option is to take יָפִיחַ (yafiakh) from the root יָפַח (yafakh, “to testify”) and translate “he testifies against all his enemies,” implying that he gets the upper hand over them in legal battles. The noun יָפֵחַ (yafeakh, “witness”) is attested in biblical Hebrew (see Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3). The verb, however, is not clearly attested.

[92:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “very deep [are] your thoughts.” God’s “thoughts” refer here to his moral design of the world, as outlined in vv. 6-15.

[92:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).

[92:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 92. The psalmist praises God because he defeats the wicked and vindicates his loyal followers.

[92:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “good.”

[92:1]  ¹⁸ tn Traditionally “O Most High.”

[2:14]  ¹⁹ tn The participle ἐξαλείψας (exaleiyas) is a temporal adverbial participle of contemporaneous time related to the previous verb συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezwopoihsen), but has been translated as a finite verb because of the complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences. For the meaning “destroy” see BDAG 344-45 s.v. ἐξαλείφω 2.

[2:14]  ²⁰ tn On the translation of χειρόγραφον (ceirografon), see BDAG 1083 s.v. which refers to it as “a certificate of indebtedness.”