Proverbs 3:14

3:14 For her ¹  benefit ²  is more profitable ³  than silver,

and her ⁴  gain ⁵  is better ⁶  than gold.

Proverbs 4:5-7

4:5 Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding;

do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak. ⁷ 

4:6 Do not forsake wisdom, ⁸  and she will protect you;

love her, and she will guard you.

4:7 Wisdom is supreme ⁹  – so ¹⁰  acquire wisdom,

and whatever you acquire, ¹¹  acquire understanding! ¹² 

Proverbs 16:16

16:16 How much better it is to acquire ¹³  wisdom than gold;

to acquire understanding is more desirable ¹⁴  than silver.

Proverbs 20:15

20:15 There is gold, and an abundance of rubies,

but ¹⁵  words of knowledge ¹⁶  are like ¹⁷  a precious jewel.

Job 28:15-19

28:15 Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it,

nor can its price be weighed out in silver.

28:16 It cannot be measured out for purchase ¹⁸  with the gold of Ophir,

with precious onyx ¹⁹  or sapphires.

28:17 Neither gold nor crystal ²⁰  can be compared with it,

nor can a vase ²¹  of gold match its worth.

28:18 Of coral and jasper no mention will be made;

the price ²²  of wisdom is more than pearls. ²³ 

28:19 The topaz of Cush ²⁴  cannot be compared with it;

it cannot be purchased with pure gold.

Psalms 19:10

19:10 They are of greater value ²⁵  than gold,

than even a great amount of pure gold;

they bring greater delight ²⁶  than honey,

than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.

Psalms 119:127

119:127 For this reason ²⁷  I love your commands

more than gold, even purest gold.

Matthew 16:26

16:26 For what does it benefit a person ²⁸  if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?

Philippians 3:8-9

3:8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! ²⁹  – that I may gain Christ, 3:9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness ³⁰  – a righteousness from God that is in fact ³¹  based on Christ’s ³²  faithfulness. ³³ 

[3:14]  ¹ tn Heb “her profit.” The 3rd person feminine singular suffix on the noun is probably a genitive of source: “from her.”

[3:14]  ² tn Heb “profit.” The noun סַחַר (sakhar, “trading profit”) often refers to the financial profit of traveling merchants (Isa 23:3, 18; 45:14; HALOT 750 s.v.). The related participle describes a traveling “trader, dealer, wholesaler, merchant” (e.g., Gen 37:28; Prov 31:14; Isa 23:2; Ezek 27:36; HALOT 750 s.v. סחר qal.2). Here the noun is used figuratively to describe the moral benefit of wisdom.

[3:14]  ³ tn The noun סַחַר (“profit”) is repeated in this line for emphasis. The two usages draw upon slightly different nuances, creating a polysemantic wordplay. The moral “benefit” of wisdom is more “profitable” than silver.

[3:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “her yield.” The 3rd person feminine singular suffix on the noun is probably a genitive of source: “from her.”

[3:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “yield.” The noun תְּבוּאָה (tÿvu’ah, “product; yield”) is normally used of crops and harvests (BDB 100 s.v. 1). Here it is figurative for the moral benefit of wisdom (BDB 100 s.v. 2.b).

[3:14]  ⁶ tn The phrase “is better” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[4:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); TEV, CEV “what I say.”

[4:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “her”; the 3rd person feminine singular referent is personified “wisdom,” which has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ⁹ tn The absolute and construct state of רֵאשִׁית (re’shit) are identical (BDB 912 s.v.). Some treat רֵאשִׁית חָכְמָה (re’shit khokhmah) as a genitive-construct phrase: “the beginning of wisdom” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV). Others take רֵאשִׁית as an absolute functioning as predicate and חָכְמָה as the subject: “wisdom is the first/chief thing” (cf. KJV, ASV). The context here suggests the predicate.

[4:7]  ¹⁰ tn The term “so” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style.

[4:7]  ¹¹ tn The noun קִנְיָן (qinyan) means “thing got or acquired; acquisition” (BDB 889 s.v.). With the preposition that denotes price, it means “with (or at the price of) all that you have acquired.” The point is that no price is too high for wisdom – give everything for it (K&D 16:108).

[4:7]  ¹² tc The verse is not in the LXX; some textual critics delete the verse as an impossible gloss that interrupts vv. 6 and 8 (e.g., C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 88).

[16:16]  ¹³ tn The form קְנֹה (qÿnoh) is an infinitive; the Greek version apparently took it as a participle, and the Latin as an imperative – both working with an unpointed קנה, the letter ה (he) being unexpected in the form if it is an infinitive construct (the parallel clause has קְנוֹת [qÿnot] for the infinitive, but the ancient versions also translate that as either a participle or an imperative).

[16:16]  ¹⁴ tn The form is a Niphal participle, masculine singular. If it is modifying “understanding” it should be a feminine form. If it is to be translated, it would have to be rendered “and to acquire understanding is to be chosen more than silver” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). Many commentaries consider it superfluous. NIV and NCV simply have “to choose understanding rather than silver!”

[20:15]  ¹⁵ tn The verse is usually taken as antithetical parallelism: There may be gold and rubies but the true gem is knowledge. However, C. H. Toy arranges it differently: “store of gold and wealth of corals and precious vessels – all are wise lips” (Proverbs [ICC], 388). But this uses the gems as metaphors for wise speech, and does not stress the contrast between wealth and wisdom.

[20:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lips of knowledge.” The term “lips” is a metonymy for speaking, and “knowledge” could be either an attributive genitive or objective genitive: “knowledgeable lips.” Lips that impart knowledge are the true jewel to be sought.

[20:15]  ¹⁷ 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.

[28:16]  ¹⁸ tn The word actually means “weighed,” that is, lifted up on the scale and weighed, in order to purchase.

[28:16]  ¹⁹ tn The exact identification of these stones is uncertain. Many recent English translations, however, have “onyx” and “sapphires.”

[28:17]  ²⁰ tn The word is from זָכַךְ (zakhakh, “clear”). It describes a transparent substance, and so “glass” is an appropriate translation. In the ancient world it was precious and so expensive.

[28:17]  ²¹ tc The MT has “vase”; but the versions have a plural here, suggesting jewels of gold.

[28:18]  ²² tn The word מֶשֶׁךְ (meshekh) comes from a root meaning “to grasp; to seize; to hold,” and so the derived noun means “grasping; acquiring; taking possession,” and therefore, “price” (see the discussion in R. Gordis, Job, 309). Gray renders it “acquisition” (so A. Cohen, AJSL 40 [1923/24]: 175).

[28:18]  ²³ tn In Lam 4:7 these are described as red, and so have been identified as rubies (so NIV) or corals.

[28:19]  ²⁴ tn Or “Ethiopia.” In ancient times this referred to the region of the upper Nile, rather than modern Ethiopia (formerly known as Abyssinia).

[19:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “more desirable.”

[19:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “are sweeter.” God’s law is “sweet’ in the sense that, when obeyed, it brings a great reward (see v. 11b).

[119:127]  ²⁷ tn “For this reason” connects logically with the statement made in v. 126. Because the judgment the psalmist fears (see vv. 119-120) is imminent, he remains loyal to God’s law.

[16:26]  ²⁸ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[3:8]  ²⁹ tn The word here translated “dung” was often used in Greek as a vulgar term for fecal matter. As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul’s meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces.

[3:9]  ³⁰ tn Or “faith in Christ.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Eph 3:12) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.

[3:9]  ³¹ tn The words “in fact” are supplied because of English style, picking up the force of the Greek article with πίστει (pistei). See also the following note on the word “Christ’s.”

[3:9]  ³² tn Grk “based on the faithfulness.” The article before πίστει (pistei) is taken as anaphoric, looking back to διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ (dia pistew" Cristou); hence, “Christ’s” is implied.

[3:9]  ³³ tn Or “based on faith.”