Proverbs 3:22

3:22 So ¹  they will give ²  life to you, ³ 

and grace to adorn ⁴  your neck. ⁵ 

Proverbs 7:2

7:2 Keep my commands ⁶  so that you may live, ⁷ 

and obey ⁸  my instruction as your most prized possession. ⁹ 

[3:22]  ¹ tn Heb “and.” The vav probably denotes purpose/result.

[3:22]  ² tn Heb “they will be.”

[3:22]  ³ tn Heb “your soul.” The noun נַפְשֶׁךָ (nafshekha, “your soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= inner soul) for the whole person (= you); see BDB 600 s.v. 4.a.2.

[3:22]  ⁴ tn The phrase “to adorn” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[3:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “grace for your neck.” See note on 1:9.

[7:2]  ⁶ tc Before v. 2 the LXX inserts: “My son, fear the Lord and you will be strong, and besides him, fear no other.” Although this addition has the precedent of 3:7 and 9 and harmonizes with 14:26, it does not fit here; the advice is to listen to the teacher.

[7:2]  ⁷ tn The construction of an imperative with the vav (ו) of sequence after another imperative denotes a logical sequence of purpose or result: “that you may live,” or “and you will live.”

[7:2]  ⁸ tn The term “obey” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied for the sake of clarity and smoothness. Some English versions, in light of the second line of v. 1, supply “guard” (e.g., NIV, NCV, NLT).

[7:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “the little man in your eye.” Traditionally this Hebrew idiom is translated into English as “the apple of your eye” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); a more contemporary rendering would be “as your most prized possession.” The word for “man” has the diminutive ending on it. It refers to the pupil, where the object focused on – a man – is reflected in miniature. The point is that the teaching must be the central focus of the disciple’s vision and attention.