Proverbs 4:3-4

4:3 When I was a son to my father, ¹ 

a tender only child ²  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 ³  you will live.

Proverbs 4:10-11

4:10 Listen, my child, ⁴  and accept my words,

so that ⁵  the years of your life will be many. ⁶ 

4:11 I will guide you ⁷  in the way of wisdom

and I will lead you in upright paths. ⁸ 

[4:3]  ¹ tn Or “a boy with my father.”

[4:3]  ² 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]  ³ 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.”

[4:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “my son” (likewise in v. 20).

[4:10]  ⁶ tn The vav prefixed to the imperfect verb follows an imperative; this volitive sequence depicts purpose/result.

[4:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the years of life will be many for you.”

[4:11]  ⁷ tn The form הֹרֵתִיךָ (horetikha) is the Hiphil perfect with a suffix from the root יָרָה (yarah, “to guide”). This and the parallel verb should be taken as instantaneous perfects, translated as an English present tense: The sage is now instructing or pointing the way.

[4:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the tracks of uprightness”; cf. NAB “on straightforward paths.” Both the verb and the object of the preposition make use of the idiom – the verb is the Hiphil perfect from דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, related to “road; way”) and the object is “wagon tracks, paths.”