Amsal 8:33-36

8:33 Listen to my instruction ¹  so that you may be wise, ² 

and do not neglect it.

8:34 Blessed is the one ³  who listens to me,

watching ⁴  at my doors day by day,

waiting ⁵  beside my doorway. ⁶ 

8:35 For the one who finds me finds ⁷  life

and receives ⁸  favor from the Lord.

8:36 But the one who does not find me ⁹  brings harm ¹⁰  to himself; ¹¹ 

all who hate me ¹²  love death.”

Amsal 9:7-9

9:7 Whoever corrects ¹³  a mocker is asking for ¹⁴  insult; ¹⁵ 

whoever reproves a wicked person receives ¹⁶  abuse.

9:8 Do not reprove ¹⁷  a mocker or ¹⁸  he will hate you;

reprove a wise person and he will love you.

9:9 Give instruction ¹⁹  to a wise person, ²⁰  and he will become wiser still;

teach ²¹  a righteous person and he will add to his ²²  learning.

Amsal 12:1

12:1 The one who loves discipline loves knowledge, ²³ 

but the one who hates reproof is stupid. ²⁴ 

Amsal 13:18

13:18 The one who neglects ²⁵  discipline ends up in ²⁶  poverty and shame,

but the one who accepts reproof is honored. ²⁷ 

Amsal 15:32

15:32 The one who refuses correction despises himself, ²⁸ 

but whoever hears ²⁹  reproof acquires understanding. ³⁰ 

[8:33]  ¹ tn Heb “discipline.”

[8:33]  ² tn The construction uses two imperatives joined with the vav (ו); this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is being expressed.

[8:34]  ³ tn Heb “the man.”

[8:34]  ⁴ tn The form לִשְׁקֹד (lishqod) is the infinitive construct serving epexegetically in the sentence. It explains how the person will listen to wisdom.

[8:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “keeping” or “guarding.”

[8:34]  ⁶ tn Heb “at the posts of my doors” (so KJV, ASV).

[8:35]  ⁷ tc The Kethib reads plurals: “those who find me are finders of life”; this is reflected in the LXX and Syriac. But the Qere is singular: “whoever finds me finds life.” The Qere is generally favored as the original reading in such cases as these.

[8:35]  ⁸ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same nuance as the perfect tense that came before it, setting out the timeless principle.

[8:36]  ⁹ tn Heb “the one sinning [against] me.” The verb חָטָא (khata’, “to sin”) forms a contrast with “find” in the previous verse, and so has its basic meaning of “failing to find, miss.” So it is talking about the one who misses wisdom, as opposed to the one who finds it.

[8:36]  ¹⁰ tn The Qal active participle functions verbally here. The word stresses both social and physical harm and violence.

[8:36]  sn Brings harm. Whoever tries to live without wisdom is inviting all kinds of disaster into his life.

[8:36]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his soul.”

[8:36]  ¹² tn The basic idea of the verb שָׂנֵא (sane’, “to hate”) is that of rejection. Its antonym is also used in the line, “love,” which has the idea of choosing. So not choosing (i.e., hating) wisdom amounts to choosing (i.e., loving) death.

[9:7]  ¹³ tn The active participle יֹסֵר (yoser) describes one who tries to correct by means of instruction and discipline; it is paralleled by the Hiphil participle which refers to someone who rebukes or reproves another. Anyone trying this on these types of people would be inviting trouble.

[9:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “receives for himself.”

[9:7]  ¹⁵ tn The word means “dishonor” or “disgrace.” It is paralleled with מוּמוֹ (mumo), translated “abuse.” The latter term means “blemish,” although some would emend the text to read “reproach.” The MT is figurative but not impossible to interpret: Whoever tries to rebuke a wicked person will receive only insults and perhaps physical attack.

[9:7]  ¹⁶ tn The verb “receives” is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[9:8]  ¹⁷ tn In view of the expected response for reproof, the text now uses a negated jussive to advise against the attempt. This is paralleled antithetically by the imperative in the second colon. This imperative is in an understood conditional clause: “if you reprove a wise person.”

[9:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “lest he hate you.” The particle פֶּן (pen, “lest”) expresses fear or precaution (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 79, §476). The antonyms “love” and “hate” suggest that the latter means “reject” and the former means “choosing and embracing.”

[9:9]  ¹⁹ tn The noun “instruction” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation.

[9:9]  ²⁰ sn The parallelism shows what Proverbs will repeatedly stress, that the wise person is the righteous person.

[9:9]  ²¹ tn The Hiphil verb normally means “to cause to know, make known”; but here the context suggests “to teach” (so many English versions).

[9:9]  ²² tn The term “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of smoothness and clarity.

[12:1]  ²³ sn Those who wish to improve themselves must learn to accept correction; the fool hates/rejects any correction.

[12:1]  ²⁴ sn The word בָּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish; stupid”) normally describes dumb animals that lack intellectual sense. Here, it describes the moral fool who is not willing to learn from correction. He is like a dumb animal (so the term here functions as a hypocatastasis: implied comparison).

[13:18]  ²⁵ tn The verb III פָּרַע (para’) normally means “to let go; to let alone” and here “to neglect; to avoid; to reject” (BDB 828 s.v.).

[13:18]  ²⁶ tn The phrase “ends up in” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[13:18]  ²⁷ sn Honor and success are contrasted with poverty and shame; the key to enjoying the one and escaping the other is discipline and correction. W. McKane, Proverbs (OTL), 456, notes that it is a difference between a man of weight (power and wealth, from the idea of “heavy” for “honor”) and the man of straw (lowly esteemed and poor).

[15:32]  ²⁸ sn To “despise oneself” means to reject oneself as if there was little value. The one who ignores discipline is not interested in improving himself.

[15:32]  ²⁹ tn Or “heeds” (so NAB, NIV); NASB “listens to.”

[15:32]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew text reads קוֹנֶה לֵּב (qoneh lev), the participle of קָנָה (qanah, “to acquire; to possess”) with its object, “heart.” The word “heart” is frequently a metonymy of subject, meaning all the capacities of the human spirit and/or mind. Here it refers to the ability to make judgments or discernment.