Discovery BoxProverbs 5:13
Context5:13 For 1 I did not obey my teachers 2
and I did not heed 3 my instructors. 4
Proverbs 15:31
Context15:31 The person 5 who hears the reproof that leads to life 6
is at home 7 among the wise. 8
Proverbs 18:15
Context18:15 The discerning person 9 acquires knowledge,
and the wise person 10 seeks 11 knowledge.
Proverbs 20:12
Context20:12 The ear that hears and the eye that sees 12 –
the Lord has made them both. 13
Proverbs 22:17
Context22:17 Incline your ear 15 and listen to the words of the wise,
and apply your heart to my instruction. 16
Proverbs 23:9
Context23:9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, 17
for he will despise the wisdom of your words. 18
Proverbs 28:9
Context28:9 The one who turns away his ear 19 from hearing the law,
[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.
[15:31] 5 tn Heb “ear” (so KJV, NRSV). The term “ear” is a synecdoche of part (= ear) for the whole (= person).
[15:31] 6 tn “Life” is an objective genitive: Reproof brings or preserves life. Cf. NIV “life-giving rebuke”; NLT “constructive criticism.”
[15:31] 7 tn Heb “lodges.” This means to live with, to be at home with.
[15:31] 8 sn The proverb is one full sentence; it affirms that a teachable person is among the wise.
[18:15] 9 tn Heb “discerning heart.” The term “heart” is a synecdoche of part (= heart) for the whole (= person); cf. TEV, NLT “intelligent people.” By paralleling “heart” and “ear” the proverb stresses the full acquisition of knowledge. The “ear” listens to instruction, and the heart considers what is heard to acquire knowledge.
[18:15] 10 tn Heb “the ear of the wise.” The term “ear” is a synecdoche of part (= ear) for the whole (= person): “wise person.”
[18:15] 11 sn This line features a mixed metaphor: The “ear” is pictured “seeking.” The “ear of the wise” actually means the wise person’s capacity to hear, and so the wise are seeking as they hear.
[20:12] 13 sn The first half of the verse refers to two basic senses that the
[20:12] 14 sn The verse not only credits God with making these faculties of hearing and sight and giving them to people, but it also emphasizes their spiritual use in God’s service.
[22:17] 17 sn A new collection of sayings begins here, forming the fourth section of the book of Proverbs. This collection is not like that of 1:1–9:18; here the introductory material is more personal than 1:1-7, and the style differs, showing great similarity to the Instruction of Amenemope in Egypt (especially the thirty precepts of the sages in 22:17–24:22). Verses 17-21 form the introduction, and then the sayings begin in v. 22. After the thirty sayings are given, there are further sayings in 24:23-34. There is much literature on this material: see W. K. Simpson, ed., Literature of Ancient Egypt; ANET 412-425; and A. Cody, “Notes on Proverbs 22:21 and 22:23b,” Bib 61 (1980): 418-26.
[22:17] 18 sn To “incline the ear” means to “listen carefully” (cf. NCV); the expression is metonymical in that the ear is the instrument for hearing. It is like telling someone to lean over to hear better.
[22:17] 19 tn Heb “knowledge” (so KJV, NASB); in this context it refers to the knowledge that is spoken by the wise, hence “instruction.”
[23:9] 21 sn The mention of “the ears” emphasizes the concerted effort to get the person’s undivided attention. However, a fool rejects instruction and discipline.
[23:9] 22 sn Saying number nine indicates that wisdom is wasted on a fool. The literature of Egypt has no specific parallel to this one.
[28:9] 25 sn The expression “turn away the ear from hearing” uses a metonymy to mean that this individual will not listen – it indicates a deliberate refusal to follow the instruction of the law.
[28:9] 26 sn It is hard to imagine how someone who willfully refuses to obey the law of God would pray according to the will of God. Such a person is more apt to pray for some physical thing or make demands on God. (Of course a prayer of repentance would be an exception and would not be an abomination to the
[28:9] 27 sn C. H. Toy says, “If a man, on his part, is deaf to instruction, then God, on his part, is deaf to prayer” (Proverbs [ICC], 499). And W. McKane observes that one who fails to attend to God’s law is a wicked person, even if he is a man of prayer (Proverbs [OTL], 623).
