5:7 So now, children, 1 listen to me;
do not turn aside from the words I speak. 2
7:24 So now, sons, 3 listen to me,
and pay attention to the words I speak. 4
8:14 Counsel and sound wisdom belong to me; 5
I possess understanding and might.
8:16 by me princes rule,
as well as nobles and 6 all righteous judges. 7
8:18 Riches and honor are with me,
long-lasting wealth and righteousness.
8:22 The Lord created 8 me as the beginning 9 of his works, 10
before his deeds of long ago.
8:32 “So now, children, 11 listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
8:35 For the one who finds me finds 12 life
and receives 13 favor from the Lord.
23:26 Give me your heart, my son, 14
and let your eyes observe my ways;
30:7 Two things 15 I ask from you; 16
do not refuse me before I die:
30:18 There are three things that are too wonderful for me, 17
four that I do not understand:
1 tn Heb “sons.”
2 tn Heb “the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).
3 tn The literal translation “sons” works well here in view of the warning. Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “children.”
4 tn Heb “the words of my mouth.”
5 tc In the second half of v. 14 instead of אֲנִי (’ani) the editors propose reading simply לִי (li) as the renderings in the LXX, Latin, and Syriac suggest. Then, in place of the לִי that comes in the same colon, read וְלִי (vÿli). While the MT is a difficult reading, it can be translated as it is. It would be difficult to know exactly what the ancient versions were reading, because their translations could have been derived from either text. They represent an effort to smooth out the text.
tn Heb “To me [belong] counsel and sound wisdom.” The second colon in the verse has: “I, understanding, to me and might.”
sn In vv. 14-17 the pronouns come first and should receive greater prominence – although it is not always easy to do this with English.
6 tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and readability.
7 tc Many of the MT
8 tn There are two roots קָנָה (qanah) in Hebrew, one meaning “to possess,” and the other meaning “to create.” The earlier English versions did not know of the second root, but suspected in certain places that a meaning like that was necessary (e.g., Gen 4:1; 14:19; Deut 32:6). Ugaritic confirmed that it was indeed another root. The older versions have the translation “possess” because otherwise it sounds like God lacked wisdom and therefore created it at the beginning. They wanted to avoid saying that wisdom was not eternal. Arius liked the idea of Christ as the wisdom of God and so chose the translation “create.” Athanasius translated it, “constituted me as the head of creation.” The verb occurs twelve times in Proverbs with the meaning of “to acquire”; but the Greek and the Syriac versions have the meaning “create.” Although the idea is that wisdom existed before creation, the parallel ideas in these verses (“appointed,” “given birth”) argue for the translation of “create” or “establish” (R. N. Whybray, “Proverbs 8:22-31 and Its Supposed Prototypes,” VT 15 [1965]: 504-14; and W. A. Irwin, “Where Will Wisdom Be Found?” JBL 80 [1961]: 133-42).
9 tn Verbs of creation often involve double accusatives; here the double accusative involves the person (i.e., wisdom) and an abstract noun in construct (IBHS 174-75 §10.2.3c).
10 tn Heb “his way” (so KJV, NASB). The word “way” is an idiom (implied comparison) for the actions of God.
sn The claim of wisdom in this passage is that she was foundational to all that God would do.
11 tn Heb “sons.”
12 tc The Kethib reads plurals: “those who find me are finders of life”; this is reflected in the LXX and Syriac. But the Qere is singular: “whoever finds me finds life.” The Qere is generally favored as the original reading in such cases as these.
13 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same nuance as the perfect tense that came before it, setting out the timeless principle.
14 tn Heb “my son”; the reference to a “son” is retained in the translation here because in the following lines the advice is to avoid women who are prostitutes.
15 sn Wisdom literature often groups things in twos and fours, or in other numerical arrangements (e.g., Amos 1:3–2:6; Job 5:19; Prov 6:16-19).
16 tn Assuming that the contents of vv. 7-9 are a prayer, several English versions have supplied a vocative phrase: “O
17 tn The form נִפְלְאוּ (niflÿ’u) is the Niphal perfect from פָּלָא (pala’); the verb means “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary; to be surpassing”; cf. NIV “too amazing.” The things mentioned are things that the sage finds incomprehensible (e.g., Gen 18:14; Judg 13:18; Ps 139:6; and Isa 9:6[5]). The sage can only admire these wonders – he is at a loss to explain them.