4:20 My child, pay attention to my words;
listen attentively 1 to my sayings.
5:7 So now, children, 2 listen to me;
do not turn aside from the words I speak. 3
7:24 So now, sons, 4 listen to me,
and pay attention to the words I speak. 5
8:6 Listen, for I will speak excellent things, 6
and my lips will utter 7 what is right.
8:32 “So now, children, 8 listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
8:33 Listen to my instruction 9 so that you may be wise, 10
and do not neglect it.
23:19 Listen, my child, 11 and be wise,
and guide your heart on the right way.
1 tn Heb “incline your ear.” The verb הַט (hat) is the Hiphil imperative from נָטָה (natah, Hiphil: “to turn to; to incline”). The idiom “to incline the ear” gives the picture of “lean over and listen closely.”
sn Commentators note the use of the body in this section: ear (v. 20), eyes (v. 21), flesh (v. 22), heart (v. 23), lips (v. 24), eyes (v. 25), feet (v. 26), and hands and feet (v. 27). Each is a synecdoche of part representing the whole; the total accumulation signifies the complete person in the process.
2 tn Heb “sons.”
3 tn Heb “the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).
4 tn The literal translation “sons” works well here in view of the warning. Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “children.”
5 tn Heb “the words of my mouth.”
6 tn Heb “noble” or “princely.” Wisdom begins the first motivation by claiming to speak noble things, that is, excellent things.
7 tn Heb “opening of my lips” (so KJV, NASB). The noun “lips” is a metonymy of cause, with the organ of speech put for what is said.
8 tn Heb “sons.”
9 tn Heb “discipline.”
10 tn The construction uses two imperatives joined with the vav (ו); this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is being expressed.
11 tn Heb “my son,” but the immediate context does not limit this to male children.