Proverbs 4:23

4:23 Guard your heart with all vigilance, ¹ 

for from it are the sources ²  of life.

Proverbs 22:15

22:15 Folly is bound up ³  in the heart of a child, ⁴ 

but the rod of discipline ⁵  will drive it far from him.

Proverbs 26:12

26:12 Do you see ⁶  a man wise in his own eyes? ⁷ 

There is more hope for a fool ⁸  than for him.

Proverbs 29:20

29:20 Do you see someone ⁹  who is hasty in his words? ¹⁰ 

There is more hope for a fool than for him. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 19:7

19:7 All the relatives ¹²  of a poor person hate him; ¹³ 

how much more do his friends avoid him –

he pursues them ¹⁴  with words, but they do not respond. ¹⁵ 

[4:23]  ¹ tn Heb “more than all guarding.” This idiom means “with all vigilance.” The construction uses the preposition מִן (min) to express “above; beyond,” the word “all” and the noun “prison; guard; act of guarding.” The latter is the use here (BDB 1038 s.v. מִשְׁמָר).

[4:23]  ² sn The word תּוֹצְאוֹת (tots’ot, from יָצָא, yatsa’) means “outgoings; extremities; sources.” It is used here for starting points, like a fountainhead, and so the translation “sources” works well.

[22:15]  ³ sn The passive participle is figurative (implied comparison with “binding”); it means that folly forms part of a child’s nature (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 238).

[22:15]  ⁴ tn The “heart of a child” (לֶב־נָעַר, lev-na’ar) refers here to the natural inclination of a child to foolishness. The younger child is meant in this context, but the word can include youth. R. N. Whybray suggests that this idea might be described as a doctrine of “original folly” (Proverbs [CBC], 125). Cf. TEV “Children just naturally do silly, careless things.”

[22:15]  ⁵ tn The word “rod” is a metonymy of adjunct; it represents physical chastening for direction or punishment, to suppress folly and develop potential. The genitive (“discipline”) may be taken as an attributive genitive (“a chastening rod”) or an objective genitive, (“a rod [= punishment] that brings about correction/discipline”).

[26:12]  ⁵ tn The verse simply uses a perfect tense. The meaning of the verse would be the same if this were interpreted as an affirmation rather than as an interrogative. The first line calls such a person to one’s attention.

[26:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “in his own eyes” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[26:12]  ⁷ sn Previous passages in the book of Proverbs all but deny the possibility of hope for the fool. So this proverb is saying there is absolutely no hope for the self-conceited person, and there might be a slight hope for the fool – he may yet figure out that he really is a fool.

[29:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “a man,” but there is no indication in the immediate context that this should be limited only to males.

[29:20]  ⁸ sn The focus of this proverb is on someone who is hasty in his words. This is the person who does not stop to think, but acts on the spur of the moment. To speak before thinking is foolishness.

[29:20]  ⁹ sn Rash speech cannot easily be remedied. The prospects for a fool are better (e.g., Prov 26:12).

[19:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “brothers,” but not limited only to male siblings in this context.

[19:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hate him.” The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) may be nuanced “reject” here (metonymy of effect, cf. CEV). The kind of “dislike” or “hatred” family members show to a poor relative is to have nothing to do with him (NIV “is shunned”). If relatives do this, how much more will the poor person’s friends do so.

[19:7]  ¹¹ tn The direct object “them” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[19:7]  ¹² tn Heb “not they.” The last line of the verse is problematic. The preceding two lines are loosely synonymous in their parallelism, but the third adds something like: “he pursues [them with] words, but they [do] not [respond].” Some simply say it is a corrupt remnant of a separate proverb and beyond restoration. The basic idea does make sense, though. The idea of his family and friends rejecting the poor person reveals how superficial they are, and how they make themselves scarce. Since they are far off, he has to look for them “with words” (adverbial accusative), that is, “send word” for help. But they “are nowhere to be found” (so NIV). The LXX reads “will not be delivered” in place of “not they” – clearly an attempt to make sense out of the cryptic phrase, and, in the process, showing evidence for that text.