Proverbs 8:4-5
Context8:4 “To you, O people, 1 I call out,
and my voice calls 2 to all mankind. 3
8:5 You who are naive, discern 4 wisdom!
And you fools, understand discernment! 5
Proverbs 8:26-32
Context8:26 before he made the earth and its fields, 6
or the beginning 7 of the dust of the world.
8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he marked out the horizon 8 over the face of the deep,
8:28 when he established the clouds above,
when the fountains of the deep grew strong, 9
8:29 when he gave the sea his decree
that the waters should not pass over his command, 10
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
8:30 then I was 11 beside him as a master craftsman, 12
and I was his delight 13 day by day,
rejoicing before him at all times,
8:31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, 14
and delighting 15 in its people. 16
8:32 “So now, children, 17 listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
[8:4] 1 tn Heb “men.” Although it might be argued in light of the preceding material that males would be particularly addressed by wisdom here, the following material indicates a more universal appeal. Cf. TEV, NLT “to all of you.”
[8:4] 2 tn The verb “calls” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of style.
[8:4] 3 tn Heb “sons of man.” Cf. NAB “the children of men”; NCV, NLT “all people”; NRSV “all that live.”
[8:5] 4 tn The imperative of בִּין (bin) means “to understand; to discern.” The call is for the simple to understand what wisdom is, not just to gain it.
[8:5] 5 tn Heb “heart.” The noun לֵב (lev, “heart”) often functions metonymically for wisdom, understanding, discernment.
[8:26] 6 tn Heb “open places.”
[8:26] 7 tn Here רֹאשׁ (ro’sh) means “beginning” with reference to time (BDB 911 s.v. 4.b).
[8:27] 8 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.
[8:28] 9 tn To form a better parallel some commentators read this infinitive בַּעֲזוֹז (ba’azoz), “when [they] grew strong,” as a Piel causative, “when he made firm, fixed fast” (cf. NIV “fixed securely”; NLT “established”). But the following verse (“should not pass over”) implies the meaning “grew strong” here.
[8:30] 11 tn The verb form is a preterite with vav consecutive, although it has not been apocopated. It provides the concluding statement for the temporal clauses as well as the parallel to v. 27.
[8:30] 12 tn Critical to the interpretation of this line is the meaning of אָמוֹן (’amon). Several suggestions have been made: “master craftsman” (cf. ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV), “nursing child” (cf. NCV), “foster father.” R. B. Y. Scott chooses “faithful” – a binding or living link (“Wisdom in Creation: The ‘Amon of Proverbs 8:30,” VT 10 [1960]: 213-23). The image of a child is consistent with the previous figure of being “given birth to” (vv. 24, 25). However, “craftsman” has the most support (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, Tg. Prov 8:30, Song 7:1; Jer 52:15; also P. W. Skehan, “Structures in Poems on Wisdom: Proverbs 8 and Sirach 24,” CBQ 41 [1979]: 365-79).
[8:30] 13 tn The word is a plural of intensification for “delight”; it describes wisdom as the object of delight. The LXX has the suffix; the Hebrew does not.
[8:31] 14 tn The two words are synonymous in general and so could be taken to express a superlative idea – the “whole world” (cf. NIV, NCV). But תֵּבֵל (tevel) also means the inhabited world, and so the construct may be interpreted as a partitive genitive.
[8:31] 15 tn Heb “and my delights” [were] with/in.”