Proverbs 8:17

8:17 I love ¹  those who love me,

and those who seek me find me.

Proverbs 1:26

1:26 so ²  I myself will laugh ³  when disaster strikes you, ⁴ 

I will mock when what you dread ⁵  comes,

Proverbs 8:12

8:12 “I, wisdom, live with prudence, ⁶ 

and I find ⁷  knowledge and discretion.

Proverbs 8:14

8:14 Counsel and sound wisdom belong to me; ⁸ 

I possess understanding and might.

Proverbs 23:15

23:15 My child, ⁹  if your heart is wise,

then my heart also will be glad;

Proverbs 8:27

8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there;

when he marked out the horizon ¹⁰  over the face of the deep,

Proverbs 26:19

26:19 so is a person ¹¹  who deceives his neighbor,

and says, “Was I not only joking?” ¹² 

[8:17]  ¹ sn In contrast to the word for “hate” (שָׂנֵא, shaneh) the verb “love” (אָהֵב, ’ahev) includes within it the idea of choosing spontaneously. So in this line loving and seeking point up the means of finding wisdom.

[1:26]  ² tn The conclusion or apodosis is now introduced.

[1:26]  ³ sn Laughing at the consequences of the fool’s rejection of wisdom does convey hardness against the fool; it reveals the folly of rejecting wisdom (e.g., Ps 2:4). It vindicates wisdom and the appropriateness of the disaster (D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 60).

[1:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “at your disaster.” The 2nd person masculine singular suffix is either (1) a genitive of worth: “the disaster due you” or (2) an objective genitive: “disaster strikes you.” The term “disaster” (אֵיד, ’ed) often refers to final life-ending calamity (Prov 6:15; 24:22; BDB 15 s.v. 3). The preposition ב (bet) focuses upon time here.

[1:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “your dread” (so NASB); KJV “your fear”; NRSV “panic.” The 2nd person masculine singular suffix is a subjective genitive: “that which you dread.”

[8:12]  ³ tn The noun is “shrewdness,” i.e., the right use of knowledge in special cases (see also the discussion in 1:4); cf. NLT “good judgment.” The word in this sentence is an adverbial accusative of specification.

[8:12]  ⁴ tn This verb form is an imperfect, whereas the verb in the first colon was a perfect tense. The perfect should be classified as a gnomic perfect, and this form a habitual imperfect, because both verbs describe the nature of wisdom.

[8:14]  ⁴ tc In the second half of v. 14 instead of אֲנִי (’ani) the editors propose reading simply לִי (li) as the renderings in the LXX, Latin, and Syriac suggest. Then, in place of the לִי that comes in the same colon, read וְלִי (vÿli). While the MT is a difficult reading, it can be translated as it is. It would be difficult to know exactly what the ancient versions were reading, because their translations could have been derived from either text. They represent an effort to smooth out the text.

[23:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “my son,” although the context does not limit this exhortation to male children.

[8:27]  ⁶ sn The infinitive construct בְּחוּקוֹ (bÿkhuqo, “to cut; to engrave; to mark”) and the noun חוּג (khug, “horizon; circle”) form a paronomasia in the line.

[26:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “man.”

[26:19]  ⁸ sn The subject of this proverb is not simply a deceiver, but one who does so out of jest, or at least who claims he was joking afterward. The participle מְשַׂחֵק has the idea of “laughing, mocking”; in this context it might convey the idea of “kidding” or “joking.” The point is that such practical joking is immature and often dangerous. To the foolish deceiver it might all seem like fun, like sport; but it can destroy people. One cannot trifle with dangerous weapons, or put them in irresponsible hands; likewise one cannot trifle with human relationships. W. G. Plaut notes, “The only worthwhile humor is that which laughs with, not at others” (Proverbs, 270).