Proverbs 1:9

For they will be like ¹  an elegant ²  garland ³  on ⁴  your head, and like ⁵  pendants ⁶  around ⁷  your neck.

They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck.

What you learn from them will crown you with grace and clothe you with honor.

Wear their counsel like flowers in your hair, like rings on your fingers.

For they will be a crown of grace for your head, and chain-ornaments about your neck.

for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck.

For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.

For they will be like ¹  an elegant ²  garland ³  on ⁴  your head, and like ⁵  pendants ⁶  around ⁷  your neck.

¹ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

² tn Heb “a garland of grace.” The word חֵן (khen, “grace”) refers to qualities that make a person pleasant and agreeable, e.g., a gracious and charming person (BDB 336 s.v.). The metaphor compares the teachings that produce these qualities to an attractive wreath.

³ tn The noun לִוְיַה (livyah, “wreath; garland”) refers to a headdress and appears only twice in the OT (Prov 1:9; 4:9; BDB 531 s.v.; HALOT 524 s.v.).

⁴ tn Heb “for.”

⁵ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

⁶ tn Cf. KJV, ASV “chains”; NIV “a chain”; but this English term could suggest a prisoner’s chain to the modern reader rather than adornment.

⁷ tn Heb “for.”