Proverbs 4:1-7

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.

4:5 Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding;

do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak. ¹¹ 

4:6 Do not forsake wisdom, ¹²  and she will protect you;

love her, and she will guard you.

4:7 Wisdom is supreme ¹³  – so ¹⁴  acquire wisdom,

and whatever you acquire, ¹⁵  acquire understanding! ¹⁶ 

[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.”

[4:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); TEV, CEV “what I say.”

[4:6]  ¹² tn Heb “her”; the 3rd person feminine singular referent is personified “wisdom,” which has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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).