Proverbs 4:3

When I was a son to my father, ¹  a tender only child ²  before my mother,

When I was a boy in my father’s house, still tender, and an only child of my mother,

When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,

For I, too, was once my father’s son, tenderly loved by my mother as an only child.

When I was a boy at my father's knee, the pride and joy of my mother,

For I was a son to my father, a gentle and an only one to my mother.

When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother’s favorite,

When I was my father’s son, Tender and the only one in the sight of my mother,

When I was a son to my father, ¹  a tender only child ²  before my mother,

¹ tn Or “a boy with my father.”

² tc The LXX introduces the ideas of “obedient” and “beloved” for these two terms. This seems to be a free rendering, if not a translation of a different Hebrew textual tradition. The MT makes good sense and requires no emendation.

tn Heb “tender and only one.” The phrase רַךְ וְיָחִיד (rakh vÿyakhid, “tender and only one”) is a hendiadys meaning “tender only child.” The adjective רַךְ (rakh) means “tender; delicate” (BDB 940 s.v. רַךְ), and describes a lad who is young and undeveloped in character (e.g., 2 Sam 3:39). The adjective יָחִיד (yakhid) means “only one” (BDB 402 s.v. יָחִיד) and refers to a beloved and prized only child (e.g., Gen 22:2).