Proverbs 15:28

15:28 The heart of the righteous considers ¹  how ²  to answer, ³ 

but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. ⁴ 

Proverbs 22:17-18

The Sayings of the Wise ⁵ 

22:17 Incline your ear ⁶  and listen to the words of the wise,

and apply your heart to my instruction. ⁷ 

22:18 For it is pleasing if ⁸  you keep these sayings ⁹  within you,

and ¹⁰  they are ready on your lips. ¹¹ 

Psalms 37:30-31

37:30 The godly speak wise words

and promote justice. ¹² 

37:31 The law of their God controls their thinking; ¹³ 

their ¹⁴  feet do not slip.

Psalms 45:1

Psalm 45 ¹⁵ 

For the music director; according to the tune of “Lilies;” ¹⁶  by the Korahites, a well-written poem, ¹⁷  a love song.

45:1 My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. ¹⁸ 

I say, “I have composed this special song ¹⁹  for the king;

my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.” ²⁰ 

Matthew 12:34-35

12:34 Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart. 12:35 The good person ²¹  brings good things out of his ²²  good treasury, ²³  and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury.

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ²⁴  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ²⁵  in your hearts to God.

[15:28]  ¹ tn The verb יֶהְגֶּה (yehgeh) means “to muse; to meditate; to consider; to study.” It also involves planning, such as with the wicked “planning” a vain thing (Ps 2:1, which is contrasted with the righteous who “meditate” in the law [1:2]).

[15:28]  ² tn The word “how” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:28]  ³ tc The LXX reads: “the hearts of the righteous meditate faithfulness.”

[15:28]  ⁴ sn The form is plural. What they say (the “mouth” is a metonymy of cause) is any range of harmful things.

[22:17]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “knowledge” (so KJV, NASB); in this context it refers to the knowledge that is spoken by the wise, hence “instruction.”

[22:18]  ⁸ tn Or “when” (so NIV).

[22:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “keep them,” referring to the words of the wise expressed in these sayings. The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:18]  ¹⁰ tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.

[22:18]  ¹¹ sn If the teachings are preserved in the heart/mind of the disciple, then that individual will always be ready to speak what was retained.

[37:30]  ¹² tn Heb “The mouth of the godly [one] utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.” The singular form is used in a representative sense; the typical godly individual is in view. The imperfect verbal forms draw attention to the characteristic behavior of the godly.

[37:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “the law of his God [is] in his heart.” The “heart” is here the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

[37:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his.” The pronoun has been translated as plural to agree with the representative or typical “godly” in v. 30.

[45:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 45. This is a romantic poem celebrating the Davidic king’s marriage to a lovely princess. The psalmist praises the king for his military prowess and commitment to justice, urges the bride to be loyal to the king, and anticipates that the marriage will be blessed with royal offspring.

[45:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “according to lilies.” “Lilies” may be a tune title or musical style, suggestive of romantic love. The imagery of a “lily” appears frequently in the Song of Solomon in a variety of contexts (see 2:1-2, 16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2-3; 7:2).

[45:1]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

[45:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[with] a good word.” The “good word” probably refers here to the song that follows.

[45:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my works [are] for a king.” The plural “works” may here indicate degree, referring to the special musical composition that follows.

[45:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my tongue [is] a stylus of a skillful scribe.” Words flow from the psalmist’s tongue just as they do from a scribe’s stylus.

[12:35]  ²¹ tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.

[12:35]  ²² tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[12:35]  ²³ sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).

[3:16]  ²⁴ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

[3:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.