Proverbs 3:13

Blessings of Obtaining Wisdom

3:13 Blessed ¹  is the one ²  who finds ³  wisdom,

and the one who obtains ⁴  understanding.

Proverbs 6:1

Admonitions and Warnings against Dangerous and Destructive Acts ⁵ 

6:1 My child, ⁶  if you have made a pledge ⁷  for your neighbor,

and ⁸  have become a guarantor ⁹  for a stranger, ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 12:22

12:22 The Lord ¹¹  abhors a person who lies, ¹² 

but those who deal truthfully ¹³  are his delight. ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 16:30

16:30 The one who winks his eyes ¹⁵  devises perverse things,

and ¹⁶  one who compresses his lips ¹⁷  brings about ¹⁸  evil.

Proverbs 17:10

17:10 A rebuke makes a greater impression on ¹⁹  a discerning person

than a hundred blows on a fool. ²⁰ 

Proverbs 18:13

18:13 The one who gives an answer ²¹  before he listens ²²  –

that is his folly and his shame. ²³ 

Proverbs 19:16

19:16 The one who obeys commandments guards ²⁴  his life;

the one who despises his ways ²⁵  will die. ²⁶ 

Proverbs 20:16

20:16 Take a man’s ²⁷  garment ²⁸  when he has given security for a stranger, ²⁹ 

and when he gives surety for strangers, ³⁰  hold him ³¹  in pledge.

Proverbs 27:13

27:13 Take a man’s ³²  garment when he has given security for a stranger,

and when he gives surety for a stranger, ³³  hold him in pledge. ³⁴ 

[3:13]  ¹ tn Although the word אַשְׁרֵי (’ashre, “blessed”) is frequently translated “happy” here (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT), such a translation can be somewhat misleading because the word means more than that – “happiness” depends on one’s circumstances. This word reflects that inner joy and heavenly bliss which comes to the person who is pleasing to God, whose way is right before God.

[3:13]  ² tn Heb “the man” (also again in the following line).

[3:13]  ³ tn The perfect tense verb may be classified as a characteristic or gnomic perfect, as the parallel imperfect tense verb suggests (see note on v. 13b).

[3:13]  ⁴ tn The imperfect tense verb may be classified as a progressive or habitual imperfect.

[6:1]  ⁵ sn The chapter advises release from foolish indebtedness (1-5), admonishes avoiding laziness (6-11), warns of the danger of poverty (9-11) and deviousness (12-15), lists conduct that the Lord hates (16-19), and warns about immorality (20-35).

[6:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “my son” (likewise in vv. 3, 20).

[6:1]  ⁷ sn It was fairly common for people to put up some kind of financial security for someone else, that is, to underwrite another’s debts. But the pledge in view here was foolish because the debtor was a neighbor who was not well known (זָר, zar), perhaps a misfit in the community. The one who pledged security for this one was simply gullible.

[6:1]  ⁸ tn The conjunction “and” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[6:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “struck your hands”; NIV “have struck hands in pledge”; NASB “have given a pledge.” The guarantee of a pledge was signaled by a handshake (e.g., 11:15; 17:18; 22:26).

[6:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stranger.” The term זוּר (zur, “stranger”) probably refers to a neighbor who was not well-known. Alternatively, it could describe a person who is living outside the norms of convention, a moral misfit in the community. In any case, this “stranger” is a high risk in any financial arrangement.

[12:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) is a subjective genitive.

[12:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lips of lying.” The genitive שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “lying”) functions as an attributive genitive: “lying lips.” The term “lips” functions as a synecdoche of part (= lips) for the whole (= person): “a liar.”

[12:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “but doers of truthfulness.” The term “truthfulness” is an objective genitive, meaning: “those who practice truth” or “those who act in good faith.” Their words and works are reliable.

[12:22]  ¹² sn The contrast between “delight/pleasure” and “abomination” is emphatic. What pleases the Lord is acting truthfully or faithfully.

[16:30]  ¹³ sn The participle עֹצֶה (’otseh) describes one as shutting his eyes (cf. KJV, ASV). This could mean simply “closing the eyes,” or it could refer to “winking” (so many English versions). The proverb is saying that facial expressions often reveal if someone is plotting evil (e.g., 6:13-14).

[16:30]  ¹⁴ tn The conjunction “and” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the synonymous parallelism.

[16:30]  ¹⁵ tn The participle קֹרֵץ (qorets) indicates that the person involved is pinching, compressing, or biting his lips (cf. NIV “purses his lips”).

[16:30]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is a Piel perfect; it means “complete, finish, bring to an end.” The two cola may form the whole process: The first line has “to devise” evil, and the second has “he completes” evil. BDB, however, classifies this use of the Piel as “to accomplish in thought” meaning “to determine” something (BDB 478 s.v. כָּלָה 1f). In that case the two lines would have synonymous ideas, i.e., using facial expressions to plan evil actions.

[17:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “goes in deeper” (cf. NASB, NRSV). The verb נָחֵת (nakhet) “to go down; to descend” with the preposition בְּ (bet) means “to descend into; to make an impression on” someone.

[17:10]  ¹⁸ tn The form is the Hiphil infinitive of נָכָה (nakhah) with the comparative מִן, min. The word “fool” then would be an objective genitive – more than blows to/on a fool.

[18:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “returns a word”; KJV “He that answereth a matter.”

[18:13]  ²² sn Poor listening and premature answering indicate that the person has a low regard for what the other is saying, or that he is too absorbed in his own ideas. The Mishnah lists this as the second characteristic of the uncultured person (m. Avot 5:7).

[18:13]  ²³ tn Heb “it is folly to him and shame.” The verse uses formal parallelism, with the second colon simply completing the thought of the first.

[19:16]  ²⁵ tn The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) is repeated twice in this line but with two different senses, creating a polysemantic wordplay: “he who obeys/keeps (ֹֹשׁמֵר, shomer) the commandment safeguards/keeps (שֹׁמֵר, shomer) his life.”

[19:16]  ²⁶ sn The expression his ways could refer either (1) to the conduct of the individual himself, or (2) to the commandments as the Lord’s ways. If the latter is the case, then the punishment is more certain.

[19:16]  ²⁷ tc The Kethib is יָוְמֻת (yavmut), “will be put to death,” while the Qere reads יָמוּת (yamut, “will die”). The Qere is the preferred reading and is followed by most English versions.

[20:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “his garment.”

[20:16]  ³⁰ sn Taking a garment was the way of holding someone responsible to pay debts. In fact, the garment was the article normally taken for security (Exod 22:24-26; Deut 24:10-13). Because this is a high risk security pledge (e.g., 6:1-5), the creditor is to deal more severely than when the pledge is given by the debtor for himself.

[20:16]  ³¹ tc The Kethib has the masculine plural form, נָכְרִים (nakhrim), suggesting a reading “strangers.” But the Qere has the feminine form נָכְרִיָּה (nakhriyyah), “strange woman” or “another man’s wife” (e.g., 27:13). The parallelism would suggest “strangers” is the correct reading, although theories have been put forward for the interpretation of “strange woman” (see below).

[20:16]  ³² tn M. Dahood argues that the cloak was taken in pledge for a harlot (cf. NIV “a wayward woman”). Two sins would then be committed: taking a cloak and going to a prostitute (“To Pawn One’s Cloak,” Bib 42 [1961]: 359-66; also Snijders, “The Meaning of זָר,” 85-86). In the MT the almost identical proverb in 27:13 has a feminine singular form here.

[20:16]  ³³ tn Or “hold it” (so NIV, NCV).

[27:13]  ³³ tn Heb “his garment.”

[27:13]  ³⁴ tn Or “for a strange (= adulterous) woman.” Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NLT; NIV “a wayward woman.”

[27:13]  ³⁵ tn This proverb is virtually identical to 20:16.