23:12 Apply 1 your heart to instruction
and your ears to the words of knowledge.
23:23 Acquire 2 truth and do not sell it –
wisdom, and discipline, and understanding.
1 tn Heb “bring.” The Hiphil imperative “come; enter” means “to apply the heart,” to use the heart or mind in the process. The same would be true in the second half: “to bring the ears” would mean to listen very carefully. Cf. TEV “Pay attention.”
2 tn Heb “buy” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT); CEV “Invest in truth.”
sn The sixteenth saying is an instruction to buy/acquire the kind of life that pleases God and brings joy to parents. “Getting truth” would mean getting training in the truth, and getting wisdom and understanding would mean developing the perception and practical knowledge of the truth.