Discovery BoxProverbs 9:6 
Context9:6 Abandon your foolish ways 1 so that you may live, 2
and proceed 3 in the way of understanding.”
Proverbs 10:14
Context10:14 Those who are wise 4 store up 5 knowledge,
but foolish speech 6 leads to imminent 7 destruction.
Proverbs 14:7
Context14:7 Leave the presence of a foolish person, 8
or 9 you will not understand 10 wise counsel. 11
Proverbs 15:20
Context15:20 A wise child 12 brings joy to his father,
but a foolish person 13 despises 14 his mother.
Proverbs 24:9
Context24:9 A foolish scheme 15 is sin,
and the scorner is an abomination to people. 16
1 tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).
2 tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.
3 tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).
4 tn Heb “wise men.”
5 sn The verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to store up; to treasure”) may mean (1) the wise acquire and do not lose wisdom (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV), or (2) they do not tell all that they know (cf. NCV), that is, they treasure it up for a time when they will need it. The fool, by contrast, talks without thinking.
6 tn Heb “the mouth of foolishness”; cf. NRSV, NLT “the babbling of a fool.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech. The genitive אֶוִיל (’evil, “foolishness”) functions as an attributive adjective: “a foolish mouth” = foolish speech.
7 tn Heb “near destruction.” The words of the fool that are uttered without wise forethought may invite imminent ruin (e.g., James 3:13-18). See also Ptah-hotep and Amenemope in ANET 414 and 423.
8 tn Heb “a man, a stupid fellow.”
9 tn Heb “and.” The vav (ו) that introduces this clause may be understood as meaning “or….”
10 tc The MT reads וּבַל־יָדַעְתָּ (uval-yada’ta, “you did not know [the lips of knowledge]).” It must mean that one should leave the fool because he did not receive knowledge from what fools said. Tg. Prov 14:7 freely interprets the verse: “for there is no knowledge on his lips.” The LXX reflects a Hebrew Vorlage of וּכְלֵי־דַעַת (ukhÿle-da’at, “[wise lips] are weapons of discretion”). The textual variant involves wrong word division and orthographic confusion between ב (bet) and כ (kaf). C. H. Toy emends the text: “for his lips do not utter knowledge” as in 15:7 (Proverbs [ICC], 285). The MT is workable and more difficult.
11 tn Heb “lips of knowledge” (so KJV, ASV). “Lips” is the metonymy of cause, and “knowledge” is an objective genitive (speaking knowledge) or attributive genitive (knowledgeable speech): “wise counsel.”
12 tn Heb “son.”
13 tn Heb “a fool of a man,” a genitive of specification.
14 sn The proverb is almost the same as 10:1, except that “despises” replaces “grief.” This adds the idea of the callousness of the one who inflicts grief on his mother (D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 116).
15 tn Heb “the scheme of folly” (NIV similar). The genitive functions as an attributive genitive, meaning “foolish scheme.” But it could also be interpreted as a genitive of source, the scheme that comes from folly (or from the fool if “folly” were metonymical).
16 tn Heb “to a man”; cf. CEV “Everyone hates senseless fools.”
sn This describes evil people who flout all morality and goodness; sooner or later the public will have had enough of them.
