Proverbs 24:32

When I saw this, I gave careful consideration to it; ¹  I received instruction from what I saw: ² 

I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw:

When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction.

Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson:

I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:

Then looking at it, I gave thought: I saw, and I got teaching from it.

Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.

When I saw it , I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction:

When I saw this, I gave careful consideration to it; ¹  I received instruction from what I saw: ² 

¹ sn Heb “I set my heart.” The “heart” represents the mind and the will combined; to “set” the mind and will means to give careful consideration to what was observed.

² tn Heb “I looked, I received instruction.” There are four verbs in the two parts of this verse: “I saw…I set…I saw…I received.” It is clear that the first two verbs in each half verse are the foundation for the next two. At the beginning of the verse the form is the preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive; it can be subordinated as a temporal clause to the next verb, probably to be identified as a preterite with the vav – “when I saw, I put.” The next two verbs are both perfect tenses; their construction would parallel the first half of the verse, even though there are no conjunctions here – “[when] I saw, I received.”

sn The teacher makes several observations of the state of the sluggard that reveal that his continued laziness will result in poverty. The reminiscence used here may be a literary device to draw a fictional but characteristically true picture of the lazy person.