Amsal 4:5

4:5 Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding;

do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak. ¹ 

Amsal 8:14

8:14 Counsel and sound wisdom belong to me; ² 

I possess understanding and might.

Amsal 17:18

17:18 The one who lacks wisdom ³  strikes hands in pledge, ⁴ 

and puts up financial security ⁵  for his neighbor. ⁶ 

[4:5]  ¹ tn Heb “from the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); TEV, CEV “what I say.”

[4:5]  sn The verse uses repetition for the imperative “acquire” to underscore the importance of getting wisdom; it then uses two verb forms for the one prepositional phrase to stress the warning.

[8:14]  ² tc In the second half of v. 14 instead of אֲנִי (’ani) the editors propose reading simply לִי (li) as the renderings in the LXX, Latin, and Syriac suggest. Then, in place of the לִי that comes in the same colon, read וְלִי (vÿli). While the MT is a difficult reading, it can be translated as it is. It would be difficult to know exactly what the ancient versions were reading, because their translations could have been derived from either text. They represent an effort to smooth out the text.

[8:14]  tn Heb “To me [belong] counsel and sound wisdom.” The second colon in the verse has: “I, understanding, to me and might.”

[8:14]  sn In vv. 14-17 the pronouns come first and should receive greater prominence – although it is not always easy to do this with English.

[17:18]  ³ tn Heb “heart”; KJV, ASV “a man void of understanding”; NIV “a man lacking in judgment.”

[17:18]  ⁴ tn The phrase “in pledge” is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:18]  ⁵ tn The line uses the participle עֹרֵב (’orev) with its cognate accusative עֲרֻבָּה (’arubah), “who pledges a pledge.”

[17:18]  ⁶ sn It is foolish to pledge security for someone’s loans (e.g., Prov 6:1-5).