Discovery BoxProverbs 4:2 
Context4:2 Because I give 1 you good instruction, 2
do not forsake my teaching.
Proverbs 4:20-22
Context4:20 My child, pay attention to my words;
listen attentively 3 to my sayings.
4:21 Do not let them depart 4 from your sight,
guard 5 them within your heart; 6
4:22 for they are life to those who find them
and healing to one’s entire body. 7
1 tn The perfect tense has the nuance of instantaneous perfect; the sage is now calling the disciples to listen. It could also be a perfect of resolve, indicating what he is determined to do.
2 tn The word לֶקַח (leqakh, “instruction”) can be subjective (instruction acquired) or objective (the thing being taught). The latter fits best here.
3 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.
4 tn The Hiphil form יַלִּיזוּ (yallizu) follows the Aramaic with gemination. The verb means “to turn aside; to depart” (intransitive Hiphil or inner causative).
5 tn Or “keep” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV and many others).
6 sn The words “eyes” and “heart” are metonymies of subject representing the faculties of each. Cf. CEV “think about it all.”
7 tn Heb “to all of his flesh.”
