10:17 The one who heeds instruction 1 is on the way to 2 life,
but the one who rejects 3 rebuke goes astray.
11:22 Like a gold ring 4 in a pig’s snout 5
is 6 a beautiful woman who rejects 7 discretion. 8
1 tn Heb “discipline.” The noun מוּסָר (musar) has a basic two-fold range of meanings: (1) “discipline” (so NIV; NAB “admonition”; NCV, NLT “correction”) and (2) “instruction” (BDB 416 s.v.; so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The wise person listens to instruction (first colon); however, the fool will not even take discipline to heart (second colon).
2 tn The term is a genitive of location indicating the goal (IBHS 147-48 §9.5.2f).
3 sn The contrast with the one who holds fast to discipline is the one who forsakes or abandons reproof or correction. Whereas the first is an example, this latter individual causes people to wander from the true course of life, that is, causes them to err.
4 tn Heb “a ring of gold.” The noun זָהָב (zahav, “gold”) is a genitive of material; the ring is made out of gold.
5 tn Heb “in a snout of a swine.” A beautiful ornament and a pig are as incongruous as a beautiful woman who has no taste or ethical judgment.
6 tn The verb “is” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
7 tn Heb “turns away [from].”
8 tn Heb “taste.” The term can refer to physical taste (Exod 16:31), intellectual discretion (1 Sam 25:33), or ethical judgment (Ps 119:66). Here it probably means that she has no moral sensibility, no propriety, no good taste – she is unchaste. Her beauty will be put to wrong uses.