Amsal 13:16

13:16 Every shrewd ¹  person acts with knowledge,

but a fool displays ²  his folly.

Amsal 14:7

14:7 Leave the presence of a foolish person, ³ 

or ⁴  you will not understand ⁵  wise counsel. ⁶ 

Amsal 23:12

23:12 Apply ⁷  your heart to instruction

and your ears to the words of knowledge.

Amsal 24:4

24:4 by knowledge its rooms are filled

with all kinds of precious and pleasing treasures.

Amsal 31:18

31:18 She knows ⁸  that her merchandise is good,

and her lamp ⁹  does not go out in the night.

[13:16]  ¹ sn The shrewd person knows the circumstances, dangers and pitfalls that lie ahead. So he deals with them wisely. This makes him cautious.

[13:16]  ² tn Heb “spreads open” [his folly]. W. McKane suggests that this is a figure of a peddler displaying his wares (Proverbs [OTL], 456; cf. NAB “the fool peddles folly”). If given a chance, a fool will reveal his foolishness in public. But the wise study the facts and make decisions accordingly.

[14:7]  ³ tn Heb “a man, a stupid fellow.”

[14:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “and.” The vav (ו) that introduces this clause may be understood as meaning “or….”

[14:7]  ⁵ tc The MT reads וּבַל־יָדַעְתָּ (uval-yada’ta, “you did not know [the lips of knowledge]).” It must mean that one should leave the fool because he did not receive knowledge from what fools said. Tg. Prov 14:7 freely interprets the verse: “for there is no knowledge on his lips.” The LXX reflects a Hebrew Vorlage of וּכְלֵי־דַעַת (ukhÿle-da’at, “[wise lips] are weapons of discretion”). The textual variant involves wrong word division and orthographic confusion between ב (bet) and כ (kaf). C. H. Toy emends the text: “for his lips do not utter knowledge” as in 15:7 (Proverbs [ICC], 285). The MT is workable and more difficult.

[14:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “lips of knowledge” (so KJV, ASV). “Lips” is the metonymy of cause, and “knowledge” is an objective genitive (speaking knowledge) or attributive genitive (knowledgeable speech): “wise counsel.”

[23:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “bring.” The Hiphil imperative “come; enter” means “to apply the heart,” to use the heart or mind in the process. The same would be true in the second half: “to bring the ears” would mean to listen very carefully. Cf. TEV “Pay attention.”

[31:18]  ⁸ tn The first word of the ninth line begins with ט (tet), the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:18]  sn This is the word for “taste.” It means her opinion or perception, what she has learned by experience and therefore seems right.

[31:18]  ⁹ sn The line may be taken literally to mean that she is industrious throughout the night (“burning the midnight oil”) when she must in order to follow through a business deal (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 668); cf. TEV. But the line could also be taken figuratively, comparing “her light” to the prosperity of her household – her whole life – which continues night and day.