Amsal 23:13-14

23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;

even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

23:14 If you strike ¹  him with the rod,

you will deliver him ²  from death. ³ 

Amsal 23:22

23:22 Listen to your father who begot you,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Amsal 23:24-25

23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; ⁴ 

whoever fathers a wise child ⁵  will have joy in him.

23:25 May your father and your mother have joy;

may she who bore you rejoice. ⁶ 

[23:14]  ¹ tn Or “punish” (NIV). The syntax of these two lines suggests a conditional clause (cf. NCV, NRSV).

[23:14]  ² tn Heb “his soul.” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= soul) for the whole (= person); see BDB 660 s.v. 4.

[23:14]  ³ tn The term שְׁאוֹל (shÿ’ol, “Sheol”) in this context probably means “death” (so NIV, NCV, NLT) and not the realm of the departed (wicked) spirits (cf. NAB “the nether world”). In the wisdom of other lands, Ahiqar 6:82 says, “If I strike you, my son, you will not die.” The idea is that discipline helps the child to a full life; if the child dies prematurely, it would be more than likely a consequence of not being trained by discipline. In the book of Proverbs the “death” mentioned here could be social as well as physical.

[23:24]  ⁴ tc The Qere reading has the imperfect יָגִיל (yagil) with the cognate accusative גִּיל (gil) which intensifies the meaning and the specific future of this verb.

[23:24]  ⁵ tn The term “child” is supplied for the masculine singular adjective here.

[23:25]  ⁶ tn The form תָגֵל (tagel) is clearly a short form and therefore a jussive (“may she…rejoice”); if this second verb is a jussive, then the parallel יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) should be a jussive also (“may your father and your mother have joy”).