Proverbs 8:23

8:23 From eternity I was appointed, ¹ 

from the beginning, from before the world existed. ² 

Proverbs 2:21

2:21 For the upright will reside in the land,

and those with integrity ³  will remain in it,

Proverbs 3:19

3:19 By wisdom the Lord laid the foundation of the earth; ⁴ 

he established the heavens by understanding. ⁵ 

Proverbs 8:26

8:26 before he made the earth and its fields, ⁶ 

or the beginning ⁷  of the dust of the world.

Proverbs 10:30

10:30 The righteous will never be moved,

but the wicked will not inhabit the land. ⁸ 

Proverbs 17:24

17:24 Wisdom is directly in front of ⁹  the discerning person,

but the eyes of a fool run ¹⁰  to the ends of the earth. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 29:4

29:4 A king brings stability ¹²  to a land ¹³  by justice,

but one who exacts tribute ¹⁴  tears it down.

Proverbs 30:24

30:24 There are four things on earth that are small, ¹⁵ 

but they are exceedingly wise: ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 31:23

31:23 Her husband is well-known ¹⁷  in the city gate ¹⁸ 

when he sits with the elders ¹⁹  of the land.

Proverbs 8:29

8:29 when he gave the sea his decree

that the waters should not pass over his command, ²⁰ 

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

Proverbs 28:2

28:2 When a country is rebellious ²¹  it has many princes, ²² 

but by someone who is discerning and knowledgeable ²³  order is maintained. ²⁴ 

Proverbs 30:16

30:16 the grave, ²⁵  the barren womb, ²⁶ 

land that is not satisfied with water,

and fire that never says, “Enough!” ²⁷ 

Proverbs 30:21

30:21 Under three things the earth trembles, ²⁸ 

and under four things it cannot bear up:

Proverbs 30:4

30:4 Who has ascended into heaven, and then descended? ²⁹ 

Who has gathered up the winds in his fists? ³⁰ 

Who has bound up the waters in his cloak? ³¹ 

Who has established all the ends of the earth? ³² 

What is his name, and what is his son’s name? ³³  – if you know!

[8:23]  ¹ tn The first parallel verb is נִסַּכְתִּי (nissakhti), “I was appointed.” It is not a common word; it occurs here and in Ps 2:6 for the coronation of the king. It means “installed, set.”

[8:23]  ² tn The verb “existed” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation in the light of the context.

[2:21]  ³ tn Heb “the blameless” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “the honest”; NRSV “the innocent.” The term תְּמִימִים (tÿmimim, “the blameless”) describes those who live with integrity. They are blameless in that they live above reproach according to the requirements of the law.

[3:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “founded the earth.” The verb יָסַד (yasad, “to establish; to found”) describes laying the foundation of a building (1 Kgs 5:31 [HT]; 7:10; 2 Chr 3:3; Ezra 3:10-12; Zech 4:9) and God laying the foundation of the earth (Job 38:4; Pss 24:2; 89:12; 102:26; 104:5; Isa 48:13; 51:13, 16; Zech 12:1).

[3:19]  ⁶ sn The theme of God’s use of wisdom in creation is developed in Prov 8:22-31. Because God established the world to operate according to the principle of wisdom it is impossible for anyone to live successfully in his world apart from the wisdom that only God can give.

[8:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “open places.”

[8:26]  ⁸ tn Here רֹאשׁ (ro’sh) means “beginning” with reference to time (BDB 911 s.v. 4.b).

[10:30]  ⁹ sn This proverb concerns the enjoyment of covenant blessings – dwelling in the land of Israel. It is promised to the righteous for an eternal inheritance, and so the wicked cannot expect to settle there – they will be exiled.

[17:24]  ¹¹ tn The verse begins with אֶת־פְּנֵי מֵבִין (’et-pÿni mevin), “before the discerning” or “the face of the discerning.” The particle אֶת here is simply drawing emphasis to the predicate (IBHS 182-83 §10.3.2b). Cf. NIV “A discerning man keeps wisdom in view.”

[17:24]  ¹² tn The term “run” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:24]  ¹³ sn To say that “the eyes of the fool run to the ends of the earth” means that he has no power to concentrate and cannot focus his attention on anything. The language is hyperbolic. Cf. NCV “the mind of a fool wanders everywhere.”

[29:4]  ¹³ tn The form is the Hiphil imperfect of the verb עָמַד (’amad, “to stand”), hence, “to cause to stand.” It means that the king makes the nation “stand firm,” with “standing firm” being a figure for strength, security, and stability. Cf. NCV “makes his country (the nation CEV) strong.”

[29:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “country.” This term functions as a metonymy of subject for the people in the land.

[29:4]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text reads אִישׁ תְּרוּמוֹת (’ish tÿrumot, “a man of offerings”), which could refer to a man who “receives gifts” or “gives gifts.” Because of its destructive nature on the country, here the phrase must mean that he receives or “exacts” the money (cf. NRSV “makes heavy exactions”). This seems to go beyond the ordinary taxation for two reasons: (1) this ruler is a “man of offerings,” indicating that it is in his nature to do this, and (2) it tears down the country. The word “offerings” has been taken to refer to gifts or bribes (cf. NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT), but the word itself suggests more the idea of tribute or taxes that are demanded; this Hebrew word was used in Leviticus for offerings given to the priests, and in Ezek 45:16 for taxes. The point seems to be that this ruler or administrator is breaking the backs of the people with heavy taxes or tribute (e.g., 1 Sam 8:11-18), and this causes division and strife.

[30:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Four are the small things of the earth.” TEV has “four animals,” though in the list of four that follows, two are insects and one is a reptile.

[30:24]  ¹⁶ tn The construction uses the Pual participle with the plural adjective as an intensive; these four creatures are the very embodiment of wisdom (BDB 314 s.v. חָכַם Pu).

[31:23]  ¹⁷ tn The first word of the fourteenth line begins with נ (nun), the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The form is the Niphal participle of יָדַע (yada’); it means that her husband is “known.” The point is that he is a prominent person, respected in the community.

[31:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “gate”; the term “city” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[31:23]  ¹⁹ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition and a pronominal suffix that serves as the subject (subjective genitive) to form a temporal clause. The fact that he “sits with the elders” means he is one of the elders; he sits as a judge among the people.

[8:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his mouth.”

[28:2]  ²¹ sn The Hebrew word translated “rebellious” has rebellion as its basic meaning, and that is the idea here. The proverb is describing a time when sinfulness brings about social and political unrest.

[28:2]  ²² tn Heb “many are its princes” (so NASB).

[28:2]  ²³ tn Heb “a man who understands [and] knows”; NRSV “an intelligent ruler”; NLT “wise and knowledgeable leaders.”

[28:2]  ²⁴ tc The LXX reads (probably from a different underlying Hebrew text): “It is the fault of a violent man that quarrels start, but they are settled by a man of discernment.” For a survey of suggestions, see C. H. Toy, Proverbs (ICC), 495, and W. McKane, Proverbs (OTL), 630.

[30:16]  ²³ tn The term שְׁאוֹל (she’ol, “Sheol”) refers here to the realm of the dead: “the grave” (so KJV, NIV, NLT); cf. TEV, CEV “the world of the dead”; NAB “the nether world.”

[30:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the closing of the womb,” a situation especially troubling for one who is consumed with a desire for children (e.g., Gen 16:2; 30:1).

[30:16]  ²⁵ sn There is no clear lesson made from these observations. But one point that could be made is that greed, symbolized by the leech, is as insatiable as all these other things. If that is the case, the proverb would constitute a warning against the insatiable nature of greed.

[30:21]  ²⁵ sn The Hebrew verb means “to rage; to quake; to be in tumult.” The sage is using humorous and satirical hyperbole to say that the changes described in the following verses shake up the whole order of life. The sayings assume that the new, elevated status of the individuals was not accompanied by a change in nature. For example, it was not completely unknown in the ancient world for a servant to become king, and in the process begin to behave like a king.

[30:4]  ²⁷ sn To make his point Agur includes five questions. These, like Job 38–41, or Proverbs 8:24-29, focus on the divine acts to show that it is absurd for a mere mortal to think that he can explain God’s work or compare himself to God. These questions display mankind’s limitations and God’s incomparable nature. The first question could be open to include humans, but may refer to God alone (as the other questions do).

[30:4]  ²⁸ sn The questions are filled with anthropomorphic language. The questioner is asking what humans have ever done this, but the meaning is that only God has done this. “Gathering the wind in his fists” is a way of expressing absolute sovereign control over the forces of nature.

[30:4]  ²⁹ sn The question is comparing the clouds of the heavens to garments (e.g., Job 26:8). T. T. Perowne writes, “Men bind up water in skins or bottles; God binds up the rain-floods in the thin, gauzy texture of the changing clouds, which yet by his power does not rend under its burden of waters.”

[30:4]  ³⁰ sn The ends of the earth is an expression often used in scripture as a metonymy of subject referring to the people who live in the ends of the earth, the far off and remote lands and islands. While that is possible here as well, this may simply be a synecdoche saying that God created the whole world, even the most remote and distant places.

[30:4]  ³¹ sn The reference to “son” in this passage has prompted many suggestions down through the years: It was identified as Israel in the Jewish Midrashim, the Logos or demiurge by some of the philosophers and allegorical writers, as simple poetic parallelism without a separate identity by some critical scholars, and as Jesus by Christian commentators. Parallels with Ugaritic are interesting, because Baal is referred to as a son; but that is bound up within the pantheon where there was a father god. Some of the Jewish commentators exhibit a strange logic in expressing what Christians would say is only their blindness to the full revelation: There is little cogency in this being a reference to Jesus because if there had been such a person at any time in the past he would have left some tradition about it through his descendants (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 317). But Judaism has taught from the earliest times that Messiah was preexistent (especially in view of Micah 5 and Daniel 7); and the claims of Jesus in the Gospels bear this out. It seems best to say that there is a hint here of the nature of the Messiah as Son, a hint that will later be revealed in full through the incarnation.