Amsal 8:3

8:3 beside the gates opening into ¹  the city,

at the entrance of the doorways she cries out: ² 

Amsal 8:7

8:7 For my mouth ³  speaks truth, ⁴ 

and my lips ⁵  hate wickedness. ⁶ 

Amsal 8:19

8:19 My fruit is better than the purest gold, ⁷ 

and what I produce ⁸  is better than choice silver.

[8:3]  ¹ tn Heb “at the mouth of.”

[8:3]  ² tn The cry is a very loud ringing cry that could not be missed. The term רָנַן (ranan) means “to give a ringing cry.” It is often only a shrill sound that might come with a victory in battle, but its use in the psalms for praise shows that it also can have clear verbal content, as it does here. For wisdom to stand in the street and give such a ringing cry would mean that it could be heard by all. It was a proclamation.

[8:7]  ³ tn Heb “roof of the mouth.” This expression is a metonymy of cause for the activity of speaking.

[8:7]  ⁴ tn The word “truth” (אֱמֶת, ’emet) is derived from the verbal root אָמַן (’aman) which means “to support.” There are a number of derived nouns that have the sense of reliability: “pillars,” “master craftsman,” “nurse,” “guardian.” Modifiers related to this group of words includes things like “faithful,” “surely,” “truly” (amen). In the derived stems the verb develops various nuances: The Niphal has the meanings of “reliable, faithful, sure, steadfast,” and the Hiphil has the meaning “believe” (i.e., consider something dependable). The noun “truth” means what is reliable or dependable, firm or sure.

[8:7]  ⁵ sn Wise lips detest wickedness; wisdom hates speaking wicked things. In fact, speaking truth results in part from detesting wickedness.

[8:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “wickedness is an abomination to my lips” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[8:19]  ⁷ tn The two synonyms, “than gold, than fine gold” probably form a hendiadys here to express “the very finest gold.”

[8:19]  ⁸ sn The language of the text with “fruit” and “ingathering” is the language of the harvest – what the crops yield. So the figure is hypocatastasis, comparing what wisdom produces to such crops.