Proverbs 5:12-13

5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!

My heart spurned reproof!

5:13 For ¹  I did not obey my teachers ² 

and I did not heed ³  my instructors. ⁴ 

Proverbs 9:7-8

9:7 Whoever corrects ⁵  a mocker is asking for ⁶  insult; ⁷ 

whoever reproves a wicked person receives ⁸  abuse.

9:8 Do not reprove ⁹  a mocker or ¹⁰  he will hate you;

reprove a wise person and he will love you.

Psalms 32:9

32:9 Do not be ¹¹  like an unintelligent horse or mule, ¹² 

which will not obey you

unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit. ¹³ 

Psalms 92:6

92:6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;

the fool does not understand this. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 1:3

1:3 An ox recognizes its owner,

a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; ¹⁵ 

but Israel does not recognize me, ¹⁶ 

my people do not understand.”

[5:13]  ¹ tn The vav that introduces this clause functions in an explanatory sense.

[5:13]  ² tn The Hebrew term מוֹרַי (moray) is the nominal form based on the Hiphil plural participle with a suffix, from the root יָרָה (yarah). The verb is “to teach,” the common noun is “instruction, law [torah],” and this participle form is teacher (“my teachers”).

[5:13]  ³ sn The idioms are vivid: This expression is “incline the ear”; earlier in the first line is “listen to the voice,” meaning “obey.” Such detailed description emphasizes the importance of the material.

[5:13]  ⁴ tn The form is the Piel plural participle of לָמַד (lamad) used substantivally.

[9:7]  ⁵ tn The active participle יֹסֵר (yoser) describes one who tries to correct by means of instruction and discipline; it is paralleled by the Hiphil participle which refers to someone who rebukes or reproves another. Anyone trying this on these types of people would be inviting trouble.

[9:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “receives for himself.”

[9:7]  ⁷ tn The word means “dishonor” or “disgrace.” It is paralleled with מוּמוֹ (mumo), translated “abuse.” The latter term means “blemish,” although some would emend the text to read “reproach.” The MT is figurative but not impossible to interpret: Whoever tries to rebuke a wicked person will receive only insults and perhaps physical attack.

[9:7]  ⁸ tn The verb “receives” is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[9:8]  ⁹ tn In view of the expected response for reproof, the text now uses a negated jussive to advise against the attempt. This is paralleled antithetically by the imperative in the second colon. This imperative is in an understood conditional clause: “if you reprove a wise person.”

[9:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lest he hate you.” The particle פֶּן (pen, “lest”) expresses fear or precaution (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 79, §476). The antonyms “love” and “hate” suggest that the latter means “reject” and the former means “choosing and embracing.”

[32:9]  ¹¹ tn The verb form is plural (i.e., “do not all of you be”); the psalmist addresses the whole group.

[32:9]  ¹² tn Heb “like a horse, like a mule without understanding.”

[32:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “with a bridle and bit, its [?] to hold, not to come near to you.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun עֲדִי (’adiy) is uncertain. Normally the word refers to “jewelry,” so some suggest the meaning “trappings” here (cf. NASB). Some emend the form to לְחֵיהֶם (lÿkhehem, “their jawbones”) but it is difficult to see how the present Hebrew text, even if corrupt, could have derived from this proposed original reading. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 265) takes the form from an Arabic root and translates “whose gallop.” Cf. also NRSV “whose temper must be curbed.”

[92:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the donkey the feeding trough of its owner.” The verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.

[1:3]  ¹⁶ tn Although both verbs have no object, the parallelism suggests that Israel fails to recognize the Lord as the one who provides for their needs. In both clauses, the placement of “Israel” and “my people” at the head of the clause focuses the reader’s attention on the rebellious nation (C. van der Merwe, J. Naudé, J. Kroeze, A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar, 346-47).