Amsal 7:15

7:15 That is why I came out to meet you,

to look for you, ¹  and I found you!

Amsal 14:8

14:8 The wisdom of the shrewd person ²  is to discern ³  his way,

but the folly of fools is deception. ⁴ 

Amsal 17:24

17:24 Wisdom is directly in front of ⁵  the discerning person,

but the eyes of a fool run ⁶  to the ends of the earth. ⁷ 

Amsal 18:5

18:5 It is terrible ⁸  to show partiality ⁹  to the wicked, ¹⁰ 

by depriving ¹¹  a righteous man of justice.

Amsal 23:26

23:26 Give me your heart, my son, ¹² 

and let your eyes observe my ways;

Amsal 23:33

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, ¹³ 

and your mind will speak perverse things.

[7:15]  ¹ tn Heb “to look diligently for your face.”

[14:8]  ² tn Or “the prudent [person]” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).

[14:8]  ³ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct denotes purpose. Those who are shrewd will use it to give careful consideration to all their ways.

[14:8]  ⁴ tn The word means “deception,” but some suggest “self-deception” here (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 466; and D. W. Thomas, “Textual and Philological Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 286); cf. NLT “fools deceive themselves.” The parallelism would favor this, but there is little support for it. The word usually means “craft practiced on others.” If the line is saying the fool is deceitful, there is only a loose antithesis between the cola.

[17:24]  ⁵ tn The verse begins with אֶת־פְּנֵי מֵבִין (’et-pÿni mevin), “before the discerning” or “the face of the discerning.” The particle אֶת here is simply drawing emphasis to the predicate (IBHS 182-83 §10.3.2b). Cf. NIV “A discerning man keeps wisdom in view.”

[17:24]  ⁶ tn The term “run” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of clarification.

[17:24]  ⁷ sn To say that “the eyes of the fool run to the ends of the earth” means that he has no power to concentrate and cannot focus his attention on anything. The language is hyperbolic. Cf. NCV “the mind of a fool wanders everywhere.”

[18:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “not good.” This is a figure known as tapeinosis, a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario: “it is terrible!”

[18:5]  ⁹ tn The idiom “lifting up the face of” (שְׂאֵת פְּנֵי, sÿ’et pÿne) means “to show partiality” in decisions (e.g., Deut 10:17; Mal 2:9); cf. CEV, NLT “to favor.” The verbal form is the Qal infinitive construct from נָשָׂא (nasa’), which functions as the subject of the clause.

[18:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the guilty,” since in the second colon “righteous” can also be understood in contrast as “innocent” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[18:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to turn aside” (so ASV); NASB “to thrust aside.” The second half of the verse may illustrate this reprehensible action. The Hiphil infinitive construct לְהַטּוֹת (lÿhatot) may serve either (1) as result, “showing partiality…so that the righteous are turned away,” or (2) as epexegetical infinitive, “showing partiality…by turning the righteous away.” The second is preferred in the translation. Depriving the innocent of their rights is a perversion of justice.

[23:26]  ¹² tn Heb “my son”; the reference to a “son” is retained in the translation here because in the following lines the advice is to avoid women who are prostitutes.

[23:33]  ¹³ tn The feminine plural of זָר (zar, “strange things”) refers to the trouble one has in seeing and speaking when drunk.