Proverbs 1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
I. Title and Introduction
Chapter 1
Purpose of the Proverbs of Solomon[a]
1 The proverbs[b] of Solomon,(A) the son of David,
king of Israel:
2 That people may know wisdom and discipline,[c]
may understand intelligent sayings;
3 May receive instruction in wise conduct,
in what is right, just and fair;
4 That resourcefulness may be imparted to the naive,[d]
knowledge and discretion to the young.
5 The wise by hearing them will advance in learning,
the intelligent will gain sound guidance,
6 To comprehend proverb and byword,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 Fear of the Lord[e] is the beginning of knowledge;(B)
fools despise wisdom and discipline.
II. Instructions of Parents and of Woman Wisdom
The Path of the Wicked: Greed and Violence[f]
8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and reject not your mother’s teaching;
9 A graceful diadem will they be for your head;
a pendant for your neck.
10 My son, should sinners entice you,
11 do not go if they say, “Come along with us!
Let us lie in wait for blood,
unprovoked, let us trap the innocent;
12 Let us swallow them alive, like Sheol,
whole, like those who go down to the pit!
13 All kinds of precious wealth shall we gain,
we shall fill our houses with booty;
14 Cast in your lot with us,
we shall all have one purse!”
15 My son, do not walk in the way with them,
hold back your foot from their path!
16 [For their feet run to evil,
they hasten to shed blood.(C)]
17 In vain a net is spread[g]
right under the eyes of any bird—
18 They lie in wait for their own blood,
they set a trap for their own lives.
19 This is the way of everyone greedy for loot:
it takes away their lives.
Wisdom in Person Gives a Warning[h]
20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the open squares she raises her voice;(D)
21 Down the crowded ways she calls out,
at the city gates she utters her words:
22 [i]“How long, you naive ones, will you love naivete,
23 How long will you turn away at my reproof?
[The arrogant delight in their arrogance,
and fools hate knowledge.]
Lo! I will pour out to you my spirit,
I will acquaint you with my words:
24 ‘Because I called and you refused,
extended my hand and no one took notice;(E)
25 Because you disdained all my counsel,
and my reproof you ignored—
26 I, in my turn, will laugh at your doom;
will mock when terror overtakes you;
27 When terror comes upon you like a storm,
and your doom approaches like a whirlwind;
when distress and anguish befall you.’
28 Then they will call me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me, but will not find me,
29 Because they hated knowledge,
and the fear of the Lord they did not choose.
30 They ignored my counsel,
they spurned all my reproof;
31 Well, then, they shall eat the fruit[j] of their own way,
and with their own devices be glutted.
32 For the straying of the naive kills them,
the smugness of fools destroys them.
33 But whoever obeys me dwells in security,
in peace, without fear of harm.”(F)
Footnotes
- 1:1–7 The prologue explains the purpose of the book. The book has a sapiential, ethical, and religious dimension: to bring the inexperienced to knowledge and right conduct, to increase the facility of those already wise for interpreting proverbs, parables and riddles, and to encourage the fulfillment of one’s duties to God.
- 1:1 Proverbs: the Hebrew word mashal is broader than English “proverb,” embracing the instructions of chaps. 1–9 and the sayings, observations, and comparisons of chaps. 10–31.
- 1:2 Discipline: education or formation which dispels ignorance and corrects vice. Note the reprise of v. 2a in v. 7b.
- 1:4 Naive: immature, inexperienced, sometimes the young, hence easily influenced for good or evil.
- 1:7 Fear of the Lord: primarily a disposition rather than the emotion of fear; reverential awe and respect toward God combined with obedience to God’s will.
- 1:8–19 A parental warning to a young person leaving home, for them to avoid the company of the greedy and violent. Two ways lie before the hearer, a way that leads to death and a way that leads to life. The trap which the wicked set for the innocent (v. 11) in the end takes away the lives of the wicked themselves (v. 19). This theme will recur especially in chaps. 1–9. A second theme introduced here is that of founding (or managing) a household and choosing a spouse. A third theme is the human obstacles to attaining wisdom. Here (and in 2:12–15 and 4:10–19), the obstacle is men (always in the plural); in 2:16–19; 5:1–6; 6:20–35; chap. 7; 9:13–18, the obstacle to the quest is the “foreign” woman (always in the singular).
- 1:17 A difficult verse. The most probable interpretation is that no fowler lifts up the net so the bird can see it. The verse might be paraphrased: God does not let those who walk on evil paths see the net that will entrap them. The passive construction (“a net is spread”) is sometimes used to express divine activity. Verse 16 is a later attempt to add clarity. It is a quotation from Is 59:7 and is not in the best Greek manuscripts.
- 1:20–33
Wisdom is personified as in chaps. 8 and 9:1–6. With divine authority she proclaims the moral order, threatening to leave to their own devices those who disregard her invitation. All three speeches of Woman Wisdom have common features: a setting in city streets; an audience of simple or naive people; a competing appeal (chap. 7 is the competing appeal for chap. 8); an invitation to a relationship that brings long life, riches, repute.
The structure of the speeches is: A: setting (vv. 20–21); B: Wisdom’s withdrawal, rebuke and announcement (vv. 22–23); reason and rejection I (vv. 24–27); reason and rejection II (vv. 28–31); summary (v. 32); C: the effects of Wisdom’s presence (v. 33). Wisdom’s opening speech is an extended threat ending with a brief invitation (v. 33). Her second speech is an extended invitation ending with a brief threat (8:36). The surprisingly abrupt and harsh tone of her speech is perhaps to be explained as a response to the arrogant words of the men in the previous scene (1:8–19).
- 1:22–23 There is textual confusion. Verse 22bc (in the third person) is an addition, interrupting vv. 22a and 23a (in the second person). The addition has been put in brackets, to separate it from the original poem. The original verses do not ask for a change of heart but begin to detail the consequences of disobedience to Wisdom.
- 1:31 Eat the fruit: sinners are punished by the consequences of their sins. Wisdom’s voice echoes that of the parents in vv. 8–19. The parents mediate wisdom in vv. 8–19, but here Wisdom herself speaks.
Mishle 1
Orthodox Jewish Bible
1 Mishlei Sh’lomo Ben Dovid, Melech Yisroel;
2 To have da’as of chochmah and musar (discipline); to understand the words of binah;
3 To receive the musar of those with seichel, tzedek and mishpat, and meisharim (equity, uprightness);
4 To give subtlety to the simple, to the na’ar, da’as and discretion.
5 A chacham (wise person) will hear, and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 To understand a mashal (proverb), and the melitzah (enigma); the divrei chachamim, and their chidot (riddles).
7 The Yirat Hashem is the reshit da’as, but fools despise chochmah and musar.
8 Beni (my son), hear the musar Avicha, and forsake not the Torat Immecha.
9 For they shall be a garland of chen unto thy rosh, and a chain about thy neck.
10 Beni (my son), if chatt’aim (sinners) entice thee, consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for dahm, let us lurk secretly for the naki (innocent, harmless) chinnom (without cause);
12 Let us swallow them up chayyim (alive) like She’ol; and whole, as those that go down into the bor (pit);
13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill bateinu (our houses) with plunder;
14 Throw in thy goral (lot) among us; let all of us have kis echad (one pouch, purse).
15 Beni (my son), walk not thou in the derech with them; refrain thy regel from their path;
16 For their raglayim run to rah, and make haste for shefach dahm (shedding of blood).
17 Surely in vain the reshet (net) is spread in the eyes of kol ba’al kanaf (all the birds, i.e., lit. master of [the] wing);
18 And they lie in wait for their own dahm; they lurk secretly for their own nafshot.
19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy for betza (ill-gotten gain); which taketh away the nefesh of the be’alim (owners) thereof.
20 Chochmot crieth out in the street; she lifts up her voice in the rechovot (city squares);
21 She crieth out in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the she’arim (gates); in the Ir (city) she uttereth her words, saying,
22 Ad mosai, ye simple ones, will ye love being simpletons? And the scoffers delight in their mockery, and kesilim (fools) hate da’as?
23 Turn you at my tokhechah (reproof); hinei, I will pour out my ruach unto you, I will make known my devarim unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my yad, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have disdained all my etza (counsel), and would have none of my tokhechah (reproof);
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your pachad (terror) cometh;
27 When your pachad (terror) cometh like a storm, and your calamity cometh like a whirlwind; when tzarah (distress) and oppression cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall look for me diligently, but they shall not find me;
29 For that they hated da’as, and did not choose the Yirat Hashem;
30 They would have none of my etza (counsel); they despised all my tokhechah (reproof).
31 Therefore shall they eat of the p’ri (fruit) of their own derech, and be filled with their own mo’atzot (schemes, devices).
32 For the waywardness of the simple shall slay them, and the complacent contentment of kesilim (fools) shall destroy them.
33 But the one who payeth heed unto me [Chochmat Hashem, i.e., the Redemptive Word, not only Hashem’s creative agent (Ps 33:6; Prov 8:30; 30:4) but the one who comes with a healing mission according to Ps 107:20, though Moshiach has to die in the midst of his healing Mission to accomplish our healing from guilt and punitive dread-Isa 53:5] shall dwell safely, and shall be secure from pachad ra’ah (terror of evil).
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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