Discovery BoxProverbs 3:2-4
Context3:2 for they will provide 1 a long and full life, 2
and they will add well-being 3 to you.
3:3 Do not let truth and mercy 4 leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart. 5
3:4 Then you will find 6 favor and good understanding, 7
in the sight of God and people. 8
Proverbs 3:15
Context3:15 She is more precious than rubies,
and none of the things 9 you desire 10 can compare 11 with her. 12
Proverbs 4:9
Context4:9 She will place a fair 13 garland on your head;
she will bestow 14 a beautiful crown 15 on you.”
Proverbs 5:11
Context5:11 And at the end of your life 16 you will groan 17
when your flesh and your body are wasted away. 18
Proverbs 6:24-25
Context6:24 by keeping 19 you from the evil woman, 20
from the smooth tongue of 21 the loose woman. 22
6:25 Do not lust 23 in your heart for her beauty,
and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; 24
Proverbs 14:7
Context14:7 Leave the presence of a foolish person, 25
or 26 you will not understand 27 wise counsel. 28
Proverbs 19:20
Context19:20 Listen to advice 29 and receive discipline,
that 30 you may become wise 31 by the end of your life. 32
Proverbs 19:27
Context19:27 If you stop listening to 33 instruction, my child,
you will stray 34 from the words of knowledge.
Proverbs 22:29
Context22:29 Do you see a person skilled 35 in his work?
He will take his position before kings;
he will not take his position 36 before obscure people. 37
Proverbs 23:13
Context23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;
even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
Proverbs 23:22
Context23:22 Listen to your father who begot you,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Proverbs 24:24
Context24:24 The one who says to the guilty, 38 “You are innocent,” 39
peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce 40 him.
Proverbs 26:4
Context26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, 41
lest you yourself also be like him. 42
Proverbs 27:1-2
Context27:1 Do not boast 43 about tomorrow; 44
for you do not know 45 what a day may bring forth.
27:2 Let another 46 praise you, and not your own mouth; 47
someone else, 48 and not your own lips.
[3:2] 1 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] 2 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] 3 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.
[3:3] 4 tn The two words חֶסֶד וֶאֶמֶת (khesed ve’emet, “mercy and truth”) form a nominal hendiadys, the second word becoming an adjective: “faithful covenant love” or “loyal [covenant] love and faithfulness.”
[3:3] 5 sn This involves two implied comparisons (hypocatastasis). One is a comparison of living out the duties and responsibilities taught with binding a chain around the neck, and the other is a comparison of the inward appropriation of the teachings with writing them on a tablet. So the teachings are not only to become the lifestyle of the disciple but his very nature.
[3:4] 7 tn The form וּמְצָא (umÿtsa’, “find”) is the imperative but it functions as a purpose/result statement. Following a string of imperatives (v. 3), the imperative with a prefixed vav introduces a volitive sequence expressing purpose or result (v. 4).
[3:4] 8 tn The noun שֵׂכֶל (sekhel, “understanding”) does not seem to parallel חֵן (khen, “favor”). The LXX attaches the first two words to v. 3 and renders v. 4: “and devise excellent things in the sight of the
[3:15] 10 tn Heb “all of your desires cannot compare with her.”
[3:15] 11 tn Heb “your desires.” The 2nd person masculine singular suffix on the noun probably functions as subjective genitive.
[3:15] 12 tn The imperfect tense verb יָסַד (yasad, “to establish be like; to resemble”) has a potential nuance here: “can be compared with.”
[3:15] 13 tn Heb “All of your desires do not compare with her.”
[4:9] 13 sn The personification of wisdom continues with the bestowal of a wreath for the head (e.g., 1:9). The point is that grace will be given to the individual like a wreath about the head.
[4:9] 14 tn The verb מָגַן (magan) is a Piel (denominative) verb from the noun “shield.” Here it means “to bestow” (BDB 171 s.v.).
[4:9] 15 sn This verse uses wedding imagery: The wife (wisdom) who is embraced by her husband (the disciple) will place the wedding crown on the head of her new bridegroom. Wisdom, like a virtuous wife, will crown the individual with honor and grace.
[5:11] 16 tn Heb “at your end.”
[5:11] 17 tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive; it is equal to a specific future within this context.
[5:11] 18 tn Heb “in the finishing of your flesh and your body.” The construction uses the Qal infinitive construct of כָּלָה (calah) in a temporal clause; the verb means “be complete, at an end, finished, spent.”
[6:24] 19 tn The infinitive construct is epexegetical here, explaining how these teachings function as lights: “by keeping you.” This verse is the transition from the general admonition about heeding the teachings to the practical application.
[6:24] 20 tc The word translated “woman” is modified by רַע (ra’, “evil”) in the sense of violating the codes of the community and inflicting harm on others. The BHS editors propose changing it to read “strange woman” as before, but there is not support for that. Some commentaries follow the LXX and read רַע as “wife of a neighbor” (cf. NAB; also NRSV “the wife of another”; CEV “someone else’s wife”) but that seems to be only a clarification.
[6:24] 21 tn The word “tongue” is not in construct; the word “foreign woman” is in apposition to “smooth of tongue,” specifying whose it is. The word “smooth” then is the object of the preposition, “tongue” is the genitive of specification, and “foreign woman” in apposition.
[6:24] 22 sn The description of the woman as a “strange woman” and now a “loose [Heb “foreign”] woman” is within the context of the people of Israel. She is a “foreigner” in the sense that she is a nonconformist, wayward, and loose. It does not necessarily mean that she is not ethnically an Israelite.
[6:25] 22 tn The negated jussive gives the young person an immediate warning. The verb חָמַד (khamad) means “to desire,” and here in the sense of lust. The word is used in the Decalogue of Deut 5:21 for the warning against coveting.
[6:25] 23 tn Heb “her eyelids” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “eyelashes”; TEV “flirting eyes”). This term is a synecdoche of part (eyelids) for the whole (eyes) or a metonymy of association for painted eyes and the luring glances that are the symptoms of seduction (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:30). The term “alluring” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarification.
[14:7] 25 tn Heb “a man, a stupid fellow.”
[14:7] 26 tn Heb “and.” The vav (ו) that introduces this clause may be understood as meaning “or….”
[14:7] 27 tc The MT reads וּבַל־יָדַעְתָּ (uval-yada’ta, “you did not know [the lips of knowledge]).” It must mean that one should leave the fool because he did not receive knowledge from what fools said. Tg. Prov 14:7 freely interprets the verse: “for there is no knowledge on his lips.” The LXX reflects a Hebrew Vorlage of וּכְלֵי־דַעַת (ukhÿle-da’at, “[wise lips] are weapons of discretion”). The textual variant involves wrong word division and orthographic confusion between ב (bet) and כ (kaf). C. H. Toy emends the text: “for his lips do not utter knowledge” as in 15:7 (Proverbs [ICC], 285). The MT is workable and more difficult.
[14:7] 28 tn Heb “lips of knowledge” (so KJV, ASV). “Lips” is the metonymy of cause, and “knowledge” is an objective genitive (speaking knowledge) or attributive genitive (knowledgeable speech): “wise counsel.”
[19:20] 28 sn The advice refers in all probability to the teachings of the sages that will make one wise.
[19:20] 29 tn The proverb is one continuous thought, but the second half of the verse provides the purpose for the imperatives of the first half.
[19:20] 30 tn The imperfect tense has the nuance of a final imperfect in a purpose clause, and so is translated “that you may become wise” (cf. NAB, NRSV).
[19:20] 31 tn Heb “become wise in your latter end” (cf. KJV, ASV) which could obviously be misunderstood.
[19:27] 31 tn Heb “Stop listening…!” The infinitive construct לִשְׁמֹעַ (lishmoa’) functions as the direct object of the imperative: “stop heeding [or, listening to].” Of course in this proverb which shows the consequences of doing so, this is irony. The sage is instructing not to stop. The conditional protasis construction does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.
[19:27] 32 tn The second line has an infinitive construct לִשְׁגוֹת (lishgot), meaning “to stray; to go astray; to err.” It indicates the result of the instruction – stop listening, and as a result you will go astray. The LXX took it differently: “A son who ceases to attend to discipline is likely to stray from words of knowledge.” RSV sees the final clause as the purpose of the instructions to be avoided: “do not listen to instructions to err.”
[22:29] 34 sn The word translated “skilled” is general enough to apply to any crafts; but it may refer to a scribe or an official (R. N. Whybray, Proverbs [CBC], 134).
[22:29] 35 tn The verb form used twice here is יִתְיַצֵּב (yityatsev), the Hitpael imperfect of יָצַב (yatsav), which means “to set or station oneself; to take one’s stand” in this stem. With the form לִפְנֵי (life) it means “to present oneself before” someone; so here it has the idea of serving as a courtier in the presence of a king.
[22:29] 36 sn The fifth saying affirms that true skill earns recognition and advancement (cf. Instruction of Amenemope, chap. 30, 27:16-17 [ANET 424]).
[24:24] 37 tn The word means “wicked; guilty” or “criminal”; the contrast could be “wicked – righteous” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB) or “innocent – guilty” (cf. NIV, TEV, CEV). Since this line follows the statement about showing partiality in judgment, it involves a forensic setting. Thus the statement describes one who calls a guilty person innocent or acquitted.
[24:24] 38 tn Or “righteous”; the same Hebrew word may be translated either “innocent” or “righteous” depending on the context.
[24:24] 39 tn The verb means “to be indignant.” It can be used within the range of “have indignation,” meaning “loathe” or “abhor,” or express indignation, meaning “denounce” or “curse.” In this passage, in collocation with the previous term “curse,” the latter is intended (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT).
[26:4] 40 sn One should not answer a fool’s foolish questions in line with the fool’s mode of reasoning (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 274).
[26:4] 41 sn The person who descends to the level of a fool to argue with him only looks like a fool as well.
[27:1] 43 tn The form אַל־תִּתְהַלֵּל (’al-tithallel) is the Hitpael jussive negated; it is from the common verb “to praise,” and so in this setting means “to praise oneself” or “to boast.”
[27:1] 44 sn The word “tomorrow” is a metonymy of subject, meaning what will be done tomorrow, or in the future in general.
[27:1] 45 sn The expression “you do not know” balances the presumption of the first line, reminding the disciple of his ignorance and therefore his need for humility (e.g., Matt 6:34; Luke 12:20; Jas 4:13-16).
[27:2] 46 tn Heb “a stranger.” This does not necessarily refer to a non-Israelite, as has been demonstrated before in the book of Proverbs, but these are people outside the familiar and accepted circles. The point is that such a person would be objective in speaking about your abilities and accomplishments.
[27:2] 47 sn “Mouth” and “lips” are metonymies of cause; they mean “what is said.” People should try to avoid praising themselves. Self praise can easily become a form of pride, even if it begins with trivial things. It does not establish a reputation; reputation comes from what others think about you.
[27:2] 48 tn “a foreigner”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “a stranger.”
