Proverbs 4:4

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

“Let your heart lay hold of my words;

keep my commands so that ¹  you will live.

Proverbs 8:11

8:11 For wisdom is better than rubies,

and desirable things cannot be compared ²  to her.

Proverbs 11:27

11:27 The one who diligently seeks ³  good seeks favor,

but the one who searches ⁴  for evil – it will come to him. ⁵ 

Proverbs 13:18

13:18 The one who neglects ⁶  discipline ends up in ⁷  poverty and shame,

but the one who accepts reproof is honored. ⁸ 

Proverbs 13:24

13:24 The one who spares his rod ⁹  hates ¹⁰  his child, ¹¹ 

but the one who loves his child ¹²  is diligent ¹³  in disciplining ¹⁴  him.

Proverbs 14:22

14:22 Do not those who devise ¹⁵  evil go astray?

But those who plan good exhibit ¹⁶  faithful covenant love. ¹⁷ 

Proverbs 15:32

15:32 The one who refuses correction despises himself, ¹⁸ 

but whoever hears ¹⁹  reproof acquires understanding. ²⁰ 

Proverbs 26:27

26:27 The one who digs a pit ²¹  will fall into it;

the one who rolls a stone – it will come back on him.

[4:4]  ¹ 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.”

[8:11]  ² tn The verb יִשְׁווּ (yishvu, from שָׁוָה, shavah) can be rendered “are not comparable” or in a potential nuance “cannot be compared” with her.

[11:27]  ³ tn Two separate words are used here for “seek.” The first is שָׁחַר (shakhar, “to seek diligently”) and the second is בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek after; to look for”). Whoever is seeking good is in effect seeking favor – from either God or man (e.g., Ps 5:12; Isa 49:8).

[11:27]  ⁴ tn The participle דֹּרֵשׁ (doresh) means “to seek; to inquire; to investigate.” A person generally receives the consequences of the kind of life he seeks.

[11:27]  ⁵ tn The verb is the imperfect tense, third feminine singular, referring to “evil,” the object of the participle.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn The verb III פָּרַע (para’) normally means “to let go; to let alone” and here “to neglect; to avoid; to reject” (BDB 828 s.v.).

[13:18]  ⁵ tn The phrase “ends up in” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[13:18]  ⁶ sn Honor and success are contrasted with poverty and shame; the key to enjoying the one and escaping the other is discipline and correction. W. McKane, Proverbs (OTL), 456, notes that it is a difference between a man of weight (power and wealth, from the idea of “heavy” for “honor”) and the man of straw (lowly esteemed and poor).

[13:24]  ⁵ sn R. N. Whybray cites an Egyptian proverb that says that “boys have their ears on their backsides; they listen when they are beaten” (Proverbs [CBC], 80). Cf. Prov 4:3-4, 10-11; Eph 6:4; Heb 12:5-11.

[13:24]  ⁶ sn The importance of parental disciplining is stressed by the verbs “hate” and “love.” “Hating” a child in this sense means in essence abandoning or rejecting him; “loving” a child means embracing and caring for him. Failure to discipline a child is tantamount to hating him – not caring about his character.

[13:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “his son.”

[13:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “him”; the referent (his child) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “seeks him.” The verb שָׁחַר (shahar, “to be diligent; to do something early”; BDB 1007 s.v.) could mean “to be diligent to discipline,” or “to be early or prompt in disciplining.” See G. R. Driver, “Hebrew Notes on Prophets and Proverbs,” JTS 41 (1940): 170.

[13:24]  ¹⁰ tn The noun מוּסָר (musar, “discipline”) functions as an adverbial accusative of reference: “he is diligent in reference to discipline.”

[14:22]  ⁶ sn The verb חָרַשׁ (kharash) means (1) literally: “to cut in; to engrave; to plow,” describing the work of a craftsman; and (2) figuratively: “to devise,” describing the mental activity of planning evil (what will harm people) in the first colon, and planning good (what will benefit them) in the second colon.

[14:22]  ⁷ tn The term “exhibit” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[14:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “loyal-love and truth.” The two terms חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת (khesed ve’emet) often form a hendiadys: “faithful love” or better “faithful covenant love.”

[15:32]  ⁷ sn To “despise oneself” means to reject oneself as if there was little value. The one who ignores discipline is not interested in improving himself.

[15:32]  ⁸ tn Or “heeds” (so NAB, NIV); NASB “listens to.”

[15:32]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text reads קוֹנֶה לֵּב (qoneh lev), the participle of קָנָה (qanah, “to acquire; to possess”) with its object, “heart.” The word “heart” is frequently a metonymy of subject, meaning all the capacities of the human spirit and/or mind. Here it refers to the ability to make judgments or discernment.

[26:27]  ⁸ sn The verse is teaching talionic justice (“an eye for an eye,” etc.), and so the activities described should be interpreted as evil in their intent. “Digging a pit” would mean laying a trap for someone (the figure of speech would be a metonymy of cause for the effect of ruining someone, if an actual pit is being dug; the figure would be hypocatastasis if digging a pit is being compared to laying a trap, but no pit is being dug). Likewise, “rolling a stone” on someone means to destroy that individual.