Discovery BoxProverbs 1:23-24 
Context1:23 If only 1 you will respond 2 to my rebuke, 3
then 4 I will pour 5 out my thoughts 6 to you
and 7 I will make 8 my words known to you.
1:24 However, 9 because 10 I called but you refused to listen, 11
because 12 I stretched out my hand 13 but no one paid attention,
Proverbs 6:29
Context6:29 So it is with 14 the one who has sex with 15 his neighbor’s wife;
no one 16 who touches 17 her will escape 18 punishment. 19
Proverbs 9:9
Context9:9 Give instruction 20 to a wise person, 21 and he will become wiser still;
teach 22 a righteous person and he will add to his 23 learning.
Proverbs 10:17
Context10:17 The one who heeds instruction 24 is on the way to 25 life,
but the one who rejects 26 rebuke goes astray.
Proverbs 26:6
Context26:6 Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence, 27
so is sending 28 a message by the hand of a fool. 29
Proverbs 26:17
Context26:17 Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears, 30
so is the person passing by who becomes furious 31 over a quarrel not his own.
Proverbs 28:19
Context28:19 The one who works his land will be satisfied with food, 32
but whoever chases daydreams 33 will have his fill 34 of poverty.
Proverbs 28:24
Context28:24 The one who robs 35 his father and mother and says, “There is no transgression,”
is a companion 36 to the one 37 who destroys.
Proverbs 29:24
Context29:24 Whoever shares with a thief 38 is his own enemy; 39
he hears the oath to testify, 40 but does not talk.
Proverbs 30:33
Context30:33 For as the churning 41 of milk produces butter
and as punching the nose produces blood,
1 tn The imperfect tense is in the conditional protasis without the conditional particle, followed by the clause beginning with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “then”). The phrase “If only…” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the syntax; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
2 tn Heb “turn.” The verb is from שׁוּב (shuv, “to return; to respond; to repent”).
3 sn The noun תּוֹכַחַת (tokhakhat, “rebuke”) is used in all kinds of disputes including rebuking, arguing, reasoning, admonishing, and chiding. The term is broad enough to include here warning and rebuke. Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “reproof”; TEV “when I reprimand you”; CEV “correct you.”
4 tn Heb “Behold!”
5 tn The Hiphil cohortative of נָבַע (nava’, “to pour out”) describes the speaker’s resolution to pour out wisdom on those who respond.
6 tn Heb “my spirit.” The term “spirit” (רוּחַ, ruakh) functions as a metonymy (= spirit) of association (= thoughts), as indicated by the parallelism with “my words” (דְּבָרַי, dÿbaray). The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) can have a cognitive nuance, e.g., “spirit of wisdom” (Exod 28:3; Deut 34:9). It is used metonymically for “words” (Job 20:3) and “mind” (Isa 40:13; Ezek 11:5; 20:32; 1 Chr 28:12; see BDB 925 s.v. רוּחַ 6). The “spirit of wisdom” produces skill and capacity necessary for success (Isa 11:2; John 7:37-39).
7 tn The conjunction “and” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.
8 tn Here too the form is the cohortative, stressing the resolution of wisdom to reveal herself to the one who responds.
9 tn The term “however” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the contrast between the offer in 1:23 and the accusation in 1:24-25. It is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
10 tn The particle יַעַן (ya’an, “because”) introduces a causal clause which forms part of an extended protasis; the apodosis is 1:26.
11 tn The phrase “to listen” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
12 tn The term “because” does not appear in this line but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
13 sn This expression is a metonymy of adjunct; it is a gesture that goes with the appeal for some to approach.
14 tn Heb “thus is the one.”
15 tn Heb “who goes in to” (so NAB, NASB). The Hebrew verb בּוֹא (bo’, “to go in; to enter”) is used throughout scripture as a euphemism for the act of sexual intercourse. Cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “who sleeps with”; NCV “have sexual relations with.”
16 tn Heb “anyone who touches her will not.”
17 sn The verb “touches” is intended here to be a euphemism for illegal sexual contact (e.g., Gen 20:6).
18 tn Heb “will be exempt from”; NASB, NLT “will not go unpunished.”
19 tn The verb is יִנָּקֶה (yinnaqeh), the Niphal imperfect from נָקָה (naqah, “to be empty; to be clean”). From it we get the adjectives “clean,” “free from guilt,” “innocent.” The Niphal has the meanings (1) “to be cleaned out” (of a plundered city; e.g., Isa 3:26), (2) “to be clean; to be free from guilt; to be innocent” (Ps 19:14), (3) “to be free; to be exempt from punishment” [here], and (4) “to be free; to be exempt from obligation” (Gen 24:8).
20 tn The noun “instruction” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation.
21 sn The parallelism shows what Proverbs will repeatedly stress, that the wise person is the righteous person.
22 tn The Hiphil verb normally means “to cause to know, make known”; but here the context suggests “to teach” (so many English versions).
23 tn The term “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of smoothness and clarity.
24 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).
25 tn The term is a genitive of location indicating the goal (IBHS 147-48 §9.5.2f).
26 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.
27 sn Sending a messenger on a mission is like having another pair of feet. But if the messenger is a fool, this proverb says, not only does the sender not have an extra pair of feet – he cuts off the pair he has. It would not be simply that the message did not get through; it would get through incorrectly and be a setback! The other simile uses “violence,” a term for violent social wrongs and injustice. The metaphorical idea of “drinking” violence means suffering violence – it is one’s portion. So sending a fool on a mission will have injurious consequences.
28 tn The participle could be taken as the subject of the sentence: “the one who sends…cuts off…and drinks.”
29 sn The consequence is given in the first line and the cause in the second. It would be better not to send a message at all than to use a fool as messenger.
30 tn Heb “grabs the ears of a dog. The word “wild” has been supplied in the translation to make clear that these were not domesticated pets. CEV, to accomplish the same point, has “a mad dog,” but there is no indication of that in context.
sn Someone who did this ran a serious risk of injury or harm. Dogs were not domestic pets in the ancient Near East; they were scavengers that ran in packs like jackals.
31 tn The word מִתְעַבֵּר (mit’abber) means “to put oneself in a fury” or “become furious” (BDB 720 s.v.). The Latin version apparently assumed the verb was עָרַב (’arav), for it has the sense of “meddle” (so also NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). However, the MT reading could easily fit the verse, referring to anyone passing by who gets furious over a fight that is not his.
32 tn Or “will have plenty of food” (Heb “bread”); so NAB, NASB, NCV.
33 tn Heb “empty things” or “vain things”; NRSV “follows worthless pursuits.”
sn Prosperity depends on diligent work and not on chasing empty dreams. The proverb is essentially the same as Prov 12:11 except for the last expression.
34 tn The repetition of the verb strengthens the contrast. Both halves of the verse use the verb יִשְׂבַּע (yisba’, “will be satisfied; will be filled with; will have enough”). It is positive in the first colon, but negative in the second – with an ironic twist to say one is “satisfied” with poverty.
35 sn While the expression is general enough to cover any kind of robbery, the point seems to be that because it can be rationalized it may refer to prematurely trying to gain control of the family property through some form of pressure and in the process reducing the parents’ possessions and standing in the community. The culprit could claim what he does is not wrong because the estate would be his anyway.
36 sn The metaphor of “companion” here means that a person who would do this is just like the criminally destructive person. It is as if they were working together, for the results are the same.
37 tn Heb “man who destroys” (so NASB); TEV “no better than a common thief.”
38 sn The expression shares with a thief describes someone who is an “accomplice” (cf. NAB, NIV) because he is willing to share in the loot without taking part in the crime.
39 tn Heb “hates his soul.” The accomplice is working against himself, for he will be punished along with the thief if he is caught.
40 tn Heb “oath” or “imprecation”; ASV “adjuration.” This amounted to an “oath” or “curse” (cf. NAB “he hears himself put under a curse”; NRSV “one hears the victim’s curse”) either by or on behalf of the victim, that any witness to the crime must testify (cf. Lev 5:1). However, in this legal setting referring to “a victim’s curse” could be misleading (cf. also KJV “he heareth cursing”), since it could be understood to refer to profanity directed against those guilty of the crime rather than an imprecation called down on a witness who refused to testify (as in the present proverb). The present translation specifies this as an “oath to testify.”
sn The oath to testify was not an oath to tell the truth before a court of law in the modern sense. Instead it was a “curse” or “imprecation” expressed by the victim of the theft, or by the legal authorities, called down on any witness of the crime who kept silent or refused to testify (as here). According to Lev 5:1, if a witness does not speak up he is accountable for the crime. This person hears the adjuration, but if he speaks up he is condemned, and if he does not speak up he is guilty under the law. The proverb is an unusual one; it seems to be warning against getting mixed up in any way with the thief, for it will create a serious ethical dilemma.
41 tn This line provides the explanation for the instruction to keep silent in the previous verse. It uses two images to make the point, and in so doing repeats two words throughout. The first is the word מִיץ (mits), which is translated (in sequence) “churning,” “punching,” and “stirring up.” The form is a noun, and BDB 568 s.v. suggests translating it as “squeezing” in all three places, even in the last where it describes the pressure or the insistence on strife. This noun occurs only here. The second repeated word, the verb יוֹצִיא (yotsir), also occurs three times; it is the Hiphil imperfect, meaning “produces” (i.e., causes to go out).
42 sn There is a subtle wordplay here with the word for anger: It is related to the word for nose in the preceding colon.
43 sn The analogy indicates that continuously pressing certain things will yield results, some good, some bad. So pressing anger produces strife. The proverb advises people to strive for peace and harmony through humility and righteousness. To do that will require “letting up” on anger.
