Proverbs 3:1-2

Exhortations to Seek Wisdom and Walk with the Lord ¹ 

3:1 My child, ²  do not forget my teaching,

but let your heart keep ³  my commandments,

3:2 for they will provide ⁴  a long and full life, ⁵ 

and they will add well-being ⁶  to you.

Proverbs 3:18

3:18 She is like ⁷  a tree of life ⁸  to those who obtain her, ⁹ 

and everyone who grasps hold of her will be blessed. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 4:4

4:4 he taught me, and he said to me:

“Let your heart lay hold of my words;

keep my commands so that ¹¹  you will live.

Proverbs 4:13

4:13 Hold on to instruction, ¹²  do not let it go;

protect it, ¹³  because it is your life.

Proverbs 12:1

12:1 The one who loves discipline loves knowledge, ¹⁴ 

but the one who hates reproof is stupid. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 22:17-19

The Sayings of the Wise ¹⁶ 

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

and apply your heart to my instruction. ¹⁸ 

22:18 For it is pleasing if ¹⁹  you keep these sayings ²⁰  within you,

and ²¹  they are ready on your lips. ²² 

22:19 So that ²³  your confidence may be in the Lord,

I am making them known to you today ²⁴  – even you.

Matthew 7:24-27

Hearing and Doing

7:24 “Everyone ²⁵  who hears these words of mine and does them is like ²⁶  a wise man ²⁷  who built his house on rock. 7:25 The rain fell, the flood ²⁸  came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock. 7:26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 7:27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!” ²⁹ 

Luke 11:28

11:28 But he replied, ³⁰  “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey ³¹  it!”

Hebrews 2:1-2

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2:2 For if the message spoken through angels ³²  proved to be so firm that every violation ³³  or disobedience received its just penalty,

Hebrews 1:5-11

The Son Is Superior to Angels

1:5 For to which of the angels did God ³⁴  ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? ³⁵  And in another place ³⁶  he says, ³⁷  “I will be his father and he will be my son.” ³⁸  1:6 But when he again brings ³⁹  his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!” ⁴⁰  1:7 And he says ⁴¹  of the angels, “He makes ⁴²  his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire,” ⁴³  1:8 but of ⁴⁴  the Son he says, ⁴⁵ 

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, ⁴⁶ 

and a righteous scepter ⁴⁷  is the scepter of your kingdom.

1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.

So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions ⁴⁸  with the oil of rejoicing.” ⁴⁹ 

1:10 And,

“You founded the earth in the beginning, Lord, ⁵⁰ 

and the heavens are the works of your hands.

1:11 They will perish, but you continue.

And they will all grow old like a garment,

[3:1]  ¹ sn The chapter begins with an introductory exhortation (1-4), followed by an admonition to be faithful to the Lord (5-12). Wisdom is commended as the most valuable possession (13-18), essential to creation (19-20), and the way to a long and safe life (21-26). There then follows a warning to avoid unneighborliness (27-30) and emulating the wicked (31-35).

[3:1]  ² tn Heb “my son” (likewise in vv. 11, 21).

[3:1]  ³ tn The verb יִצֹּר (yitsor) is a Qal jussive and the noun לִבֶּךָ (libbekha, “your heart”) functions as the subject: “let your heart keep my commandments.”

[3:2]  ⁴ tn The phrase “they will provide” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “length of days and years of life” (so NASB, NRSV). The idiom “length of days” refers to a prolonged life and “years of life” signifies a long time full of life, a life worth living (T. T. Perowne, Proverbs, 51). The term “life” refers to earthly felicity combined with spiritual blessedness (BDB 313 s.v. חַיִּים).

[3:2]  ⁶ tn The noun שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) here means “welfare, health, prosperity” (BDB 1022 s.v. 3). It can be used of physical health and personal well-being. It is the experience of positive blessing and freedom from negative harm and catastrophe.

[3:18]  ⁷ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[3:18]  ⁸ sn The metaphor compares wisdom to the symbol of vitality and fullness of life. This might be an allusion to Gen 3:22, suggesting that what was lost as a result of the Fall may be recovered through wisdom: long and beneficial life (R. Marcus, “The Tree of Life in Proverbs,” JBL 62 [1943]: 117-20).

[3:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “lay hold of her.”

[3:18]  ¹⁰ tn The singular participle מְאֻשָּׁר (mÿ’ushar, literally, “he will be blessed”) functions as a distributive singular for a plural subject (GKC 464 §145.l): “each and everyone will be blessed.” Not recognizing this point of syntax, the BHS editors unnecessarily suggest emending this singular form to the plural.

[4:4]  ¹⁰ tn The imperative with the vav expresses volitional sequence after the preceding imperative: “keep and then you will live,” meaning “keep so that you may live.”

[4:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “discipline.”

[4:13]  ¹⁴ tn The form נִצְּרֶהָ (nitsÿreha, from נָצַר, natsar) has an anomalous doubled letter (see GKC 73 §20.h).

[12:1]  ¹⁶ sn Those who wish to improve themselves must learn to accept correction; the fool hates/rejects any correction.

[12:1]  ¹⁷ sn The word בָּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish; stupid”) normally describes dumb animals that lack intellectual sense. Here, it describes the moral fool who is not willing to learn from correction. He is like a dumb animal (so the term here functions as a hypocatastasis: implied comparison).

[22:17]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “knowledge” (so KJV, NASB); in this context it refers to the knowledge that is spoken by the wise, hence “instruction.”

[22:18]  ²² tn Or “when” (so NIV).

[22:18]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.

[22:18]  ²⁵ 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.

[22:19]  ²⁵ tn The form לִהְיוֹת (lihyot, “to be”) is the infinitive construct indicating the purpose (or result) of the teaching (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[22:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I cause you to know.” The term “today” indicates that the verb should have the instantaneous nuance, and so an English present tense is used in the translation (“am making…known”).

[7:24]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Therefore everyone.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[7:24]  ²⁹ tn Grk “will be like.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[7:24]  ³⁰ tn Here and in v. 26 the Greek text reads ἀνήρ (anhr), while the parallel account in Luke 6:47-49 uses ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") in vv. 48 and 49.

[7:25]  ³¹ tn Grk “the rivers.”

[7:27]  ³⁴ tn Grk “and great was its fall.”

[11:28]  ³⁷ tn Grk “said.”

[11:28]  ³⁸ sn This is another reference to hearing and doing the word of God, which here describes Jesus’ teaching; see Luke 8:21.

[2:2]  ⁴⁰ sn The message spoken through angels refers to the OT law, which according to Jewish tradition was mediated to Moses through angels (cf. Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17-18; Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; and Jub. 1:27, 29; Josephus, Ant. 15.5.3 [15.136]).

[2:2]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “through angels became valid and every violation.”

[1:5]  ⁴³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “I have begotten you.”

[1:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “And again,” quoting another OT passage.

[1:5]  ⁴⁶ tn The words “he says” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to make a complete English sentence. In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but English does not normally employ such long and complex sentences.

[1:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me.”

[1:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “And again when he brings.” The translation adopted in the text looks forward to Christ’s second coming to earth. Some take “again” to introduce the quotation (as in 1:5) and understand this as Christ’s first coming, but this view does not fit well with Heb 2:7. Others understand it as his exaltation/ascension to heaven, but this takes the phrase “into the world” in an unlikely way.

[1:6]  ⁴⁷ sn A quotation combining themes from Deut 32:43 and Ps 97:7.

[1:7]  ⁴⁹ sn The Greek correlative conjunctions μέν and δέ (men and de) emphasize the contrastive parallelism of vs. 7 (what God says about the angels) over against vv. 8-9 and vv. 10-12 (what God says about the son).

[1:7]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “He who makes.”

[1:7]  ⁵¹ sn A quotation from Ps 104:4.

[1:8]  ⁵² tn Or “to.”

[1:8]  ⁵³ tn The verb “he says” (λέγει, legei) is implied from the λέγει of v. 7.

[1:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Or possibly, “Your throne is God forever and ever.” This translation is quite doubtful, however, since (1) in the context the Son is being contrasted to the angels and is presented as far better than they. The imagery of God being the Son’s throne would seem to be of God being his authority. If so, in what sense could this not be said of the angels? In what sense is the Son thus contrasted with the angels? (2) The μέν…δέ (men…de) construction that connects v. 7 with v. 8 clearly lays out this contrast: “On the one hand, he says of the angels…on the other hand, he says of the Son.” Thus, although it is grammatically possible that θεός (qeos) in v. 8 should be taken as a predicate nominative, the context and the correlative conjunctions are decidedly against it. Hebrews 1:8 is thus a strong affirmation of the deity of Christ.

[1:8]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “the righteous scepter,” but used generically.

[1:9]  ⁵⁵ sn God…has anointed you over your companions. God’s anointing gives the son a superior position and authority over his fellows.

[1:9]  ⁵⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 45:6-7.

[1:10]  ⁵⁸ sn You founded the earth…your years will never run out. In its original setting Ps 102:25-27 refers to the work of God in creation, but here in Hebrews 1:10-12 the writer employs it in reference to Christ, the Lord, making a strong argument for the essential deity of the Son.