16:23 A wise person’s heart 1 makes his speech wise 2
and it adds persuasiveness 3 to his words. 4
21:11 When a scorner is punished, the naive 5 becomes wise;
when a wise person is instructed, 6 he gains knowledge.
9:12 If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage, 7
but if you are a mocker, 8 you alone must 9 bear it. 10
1 tn Or “mind” (cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT).
2 tn Heb “makes wise his mouth,” with “mouth” being a metonymy of cause for what is said: “speech.”
3 sn Those who are wise say wise things. The proverb uses synthetic parallelism: The first line asserts that the wise heart ensures that what is said is wise, and the second line adds that such a person increases the reception of what is said.
4 tn Heb “to his lips.” The term “lips” functions as a metonymy of cause for what is said.
5 sn The contrast here is between the simple and the wise. The simple gain wisdom when they see the scorner punished; the wise gains knowledge through instruction. The scorner does not change, but should be punished for the benefit of the simple (e.g., Prov 19:25).
6 tn Heb “in the instructing of the wise.” The construction uses the Hiphil infinitive construct הַשְׂכִּיל (haskil) with a preposition to form a temporal clause (= “when”). The word “wise” (חָכָם, khakham) after it is the subjective genitive. The preposition לְ (lamed) on the form is probably dittography from the ending of the infinitive.
7 tn The text simply has the preposition לְ (lamed) with a suffix; but this will be the use of the preposition classified as “interest,” either for advantage or disadvantage (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 48-49, §271).
8 tn The perfect tense is here in a conditional clause because of the conjunction following the first colon of the verse that begins with “if.” The perfect tense then lays down the antithetical condition – “if you mock,” or “if you are a mocker.”
9 tn The use of the imperfect tense here could be the simple future tense (cf. NASB, NRSV “you…will bear it”), but the obligatory nuance is more appropriate – “you must bear it.” These words anticipate James’ warnings that the words we speak will haunt us through life (e.g., James 3:1-12).
10 tc The LXX has an addition: “Forsake folly, that you may reign forever; and seek discretion and direct understanding in knowledge.”