Proverbs 8:3

8:3 beside the gates opening into ¹  the city,

at the entrance of the doorways she cries out: ² 

Proverbs 9:3

9:3 She has sent out her female servants;

she calls out on the highest places ³  of the city.

Proverbs 9:14

9:14 So she sits at the door of her house,

on a seat at the highest point of the city,

Proverbs 11:11

11:11 A city is exalted by the blessing provided from ⁴  the upright,

but it is destroyed by the counsel ⁵  of the wicked. ⁶ 

[8:3]  ¹ tn Heb “at the mouth of.”

[8:3]  ² tn The cry is a very loud ringing cry that could not be missed. The term רָנַן (ranan) means “to give a ringing cry.” It is often only a shrill sound that might come with a victory in battle, but its use in the psalms for praise shows that it also can have clear verbal content, as it does here. For wisdom to stand in the street and give such a ringing cry would mean that it could be heard by all. It was a proclamation.

[9:3]  ³ tn The text uses two synonymous terms in construct to express the superlative degree.

[11:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “the blessing of the upright.” This expression features either an objective or subjective genitive. It may refer to the blessing God gives the upright (which will benefit society) or the blessing that the upright are to the city. The latter fits the parallelism best: The blessings are the beneficent words and deeds that the righteous perform.

[11:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for counsel, as the parallelism suggests.

[11:11]  ⁷ sn What the wicked say has a disastrous effect on society, endangering, weakening, demoralizing, and perverting with malicious and slanderous words. Wicked leaders, in particular, can bring destruction on a city by their evil counsel.