Proverbs 4:1-4

Admonition to Follow Righteousness and Avoid Wickedness ¹ 

4:1 Listen, children, ²  to a father’s instruction, ³ 

and pay attention so that ⁴  you may gain ⁵  discernment.

4:2 Because I give ⁶  you good instruction, ⁷ 

do not forsake my teaching.

4:3 When I was a son to my father, ⁸ 

a tender only child ⁹  before my mother,

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

“Let your heart lay hold of my words;

keep my commands so that ¹⁰  you will live.

Proverbs 5:1-2

Admonition to Avoid Seduction to Evil ¹¹ 

5:1 My child, ¹²  be attentive to my wisdom,

pay close attention ¹³  to my understanding,

5:2 in order to safeguard ¹⁴  discretion, ¹⁵ 

and that your lips may guard knowledge.

Proverbs 6:20

6:20 My child, guard the commands of your father

and do not forsake the instruction of your mother.

Proverbs 30:17

30:17 The eye ¹⁶  that mocks at a father

and despises obeying ¹⁷  a mother –

the ravens of the valley will peck it out

and the young vultures will eat it. ¹⁸ 

Proverbs 31:1

The Words of Lemuel

31:1 The words of King Lemuel, ¹⁹ 

an oracle ²⁰  that his mother taught him:

Leviticus 19:3

19:3 Each of you must respect his mother and his father, ²¹  and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

21:18 If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, ²²  21:19 his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. 21:20 They must declare to the elders ²³  of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.” 21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out ²⁴  wickedness from among you, and all Israel ²⁵  will hear about it and be afraid.

Deuteronomy 21:1

Laws Concerning Unsolved Murder

21:1 If a homicide victim ²⁶  should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ²⁷  and no one knows who killed ²⁸  him,

Deuteronomy 2:25

2:25 This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth ²⁹  with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach.” ³⁰ 

Deuteronomy 2:2

2:2 At this point the Lord said to me,

Deuteronomy 1:5

1:5 So it was in the Transjordan, in Moab, that Moses began to deliver these words: ³¹ 

[4:1]  ¹ sn The chapter includes an exhortation to acquire wisdom (1-4a), a list of the benefits of wisdom (4b-9), a call to pursue a righteous lifestyle (10-13), a warning against a wicked lifestyle (14-19), and an exhortation to righteousness (20-27).

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “sons.”

[4:1]  ³ tn Heb “discipline.”

[4:1]  ⁴ tn The Qal infinitive construct with preposition ל (lamed) indicates the purpose/result of the preceding imperative.

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “know” (so KJV, ASV).

[4:2]  ⁶ tn The perfect tense has the nuance of instantaneous perfect; the sage is now calling the disciples to listen. It could also be a perfect of resolve, indicating what he is determined to do.

[4:2]  ⁷ tn The word לֶקַח (leqakh, “instruction”) can be subjective (instruction acquired) or objective (the thing being taught). The latter fits best here.

[4:3]  ⁸ tn Or “a boy with my father.”

[4:3]  ⁹ tc The LXX introduces the ideas of “obedient” and “beloved” for these two terms. This seems to be a free rendering, if not a translation of a different Hebrew textual tradition. The MT makes good sense and requires no emendation.

[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.”

[5:1]  ¹¹ sn In this chapter the sage/father exhorts discretion (1, 2) then explains how to avoid seduction (3-6); this is followed by a second exhortation to prevention (7, 8) and an explanation that obedience will avoid ruin and regret (9-14); finally, he warns against sharing love with strangers (15-17) but to find it at home (18-23). For an analysis of the chapter, see J. E. Goldingay, “Proverbs V and IX,” RB 84 (1977): 80-93.

[5:1]  ¹² tn The text again has “my son.” In this passage perhaps “son” would be the most fitting because of the warning against going to the adulterous woman. However, since the image of the adulterous woman probably represents all kinds of folly (through personification), and since even in this particular folly the temptation works both ways, the general address to either young men or women should be retained. The text was certainly not intended to convey that only women could seduce men.

[5:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “incline your ear” (so NAB, NRSV); NLT “listen carefully.”

[5:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “keep, protect, guard.”

[5:2]  ¹⁵ sn This “discretion” is the same word in 1:4; it is wise, prudential consideration, careful planning, or the ability to devise plans with a view to the best way to carry them out. If that ability is retained then temptations to digress will not interfere.

[30:17]  ¹⁶ sn The “eye” as the organ that exhibits the inner feelings most clearly, here represents a look of scorn or disdain that speaks volumes (a metonymy of cause or of adjunct). It is comparable to the “evil eye” which is stinginess (28:22).

[30:17]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew word לִיקֲּהַת (liqqahat, “obeying”) occurs only here and in Gen 49:10; it seems to mean “to receive” in the sense of “receiving instruction” or “obeying.” C. H. Toy suggests emending to “to old age” (לְזִקְנַת, lÿziqnat) of the mother (Proverbs [ICC], 530). The LXX with γῆρας (ghra", “old age”) suggests that a root lhq had something to do with “white hair.” D. W. Thomas suggests a corruption from lhyqt to lyqht; it would have read, “The eye that mocks a father and despises an aged mother” (“A Note on לִיקֲּהַת in Proverbs 30:17,” JTS 42 [1941]: 154-55); this is followed by NAB “or scorns an aged mother.”

[30:17]  ¹⁸ sn The sternest punishment is for the evil eye. The punishment is talionic – eye for eye. The reference to “the valley” may indicate a place where people are not be given decent burials and the birds of prey pick the corpses clean. It is an image the prophets use in judgment passages.

[31:1]  ¹⁹ sn Nothing else is known about King Lemuel aside from this mention in the book of Proverbs. Jewish legend identifies him as Solomon, making this advice from his mother Bathsheba; but there is no evidence for that. The passage is the only direct address to a king in the book of Proverbs – something that was the norm in wisdom literature of the ancient world (Leah L. Brunner, “King and Commoner in Proverbs and Near Eastern Sources,” Dor le Dor 10 [1982]: 210-19; Brunner argues that the advice is religious and not secular).

[31:1]  ²⁰ tn Some English versions take the Hebrew noun translated “oracle” here as a place name specifying the kingdom of King Lemuel; cf. NAB “king of Massa”; CEV “King Lemuel of Massa.”

[19:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “A man his mother and his father you [plural] shall fear.” The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and certain Targum mss reverse the order, “his father and his mother.” The term “fear” is subject to misunderstanding by the modern reader, so “respect” has been used in the translation. Cf. NAB, NRSV “revere”; NASB “reverence.”

[21:18]  ²² tn Heb “and he does not listen to them.”

[21:20]  ²³ tc The LXX and Smr read “to the men,” probably to conform to this phrase in v. 21. However, since judicial cases were the responsibility of the elders in such instances (cf. Deut 19:12; 21:3, 6; 25:7-8) the reading of the MT is likely original and correct here.

[21:21]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew term בִּעַרְתָּה (bi’artah), here and elsewhere in such contexts (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:9), suggests God’s anger which consumes like fire (thus בָעַר, ba’ar, “to burn”). See H. Ringgren, TDOT 2:203-4.

[21:21]  ²⁵ tc Some LXX traditions read הַנִּשְׁאָרִים (hannish’arim, “those who remain”) for the MT’s יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”), understandable in light of Deut 19:20. However, the more difficult reading found in the MT is more likely original.

[21:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).

[21:1]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”

[2:25]  ²⁹ tn Heb “under heaven” (so NIV, NRSV).

[2:25]  ³⁰ tn Heb “from before you.”

[1:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “this instruction”; KJV, NIV, NRSV “this law”; TEV “God’s laws and teachings.” The Hebrew noun תוֹרָה (torah) is derived from the verb יָרָה (yarah, “to teach”) and here it refers to the Book of Deuteronomy, not the Pentateuch as a whole.