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Proverbs 4:1-13
New English Translation

Admonition to Follow Righteousness and Avoid Wickedness[a]

4 Listen, children,[b] to a father’s instruction,[c]
and pay attention so that you may gain[d] discernment.
2 Because I hereby give[e] you good instruction,
do not forsake my teaching.

3 When I was a son to my father,[f]
a tender, only child[g] before my mother,
4 he taught me, and he said to me:
“Let your heart lay hold of my words;
keep my commands so that[h] you will live.
5 Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding;
do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak.[i]
6 Do not forsake wisdom,[j] and she will protect you;
love her, and she will guard you.
7 Wisdom is supreme[k]—so[l] acquire wisdom,
and whatever you acquire,[m] acquire understanding![n]
8 Esteem her highly[o] and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will place a fair[p] garland on your head;
she will bestow a beautiful crown[q] on you.”
10 Listen, my child,[r] and accept my words,
so that[s] the years of your life will be many.[t]
11 I hereby guide you[u] in the way of wisdom
and I lead you in upright paths.[v]
12 When you walk, your steps[w] will not be hampered,[x]
and when you run,[y] you will not stumble.
13 Hold on to instruction,[z] do not let it go;
protect it,[aa] because it is your life.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 4:1 sn The chapter includes an exhortation to acquire wisdom (1-4a), a list of the benefits of wisdom (4b-9), a call to pursue a righteous lifestyle (10-13), a warning against a wicked lifestyle (14-19), and an exhortation to righteousness (20-27).
  2. Proverbs 4:1 tn Heb “sons.” See note at 1:8.
  3. Proverbs 4:1 tn Or “warning.” See note at 1:2.
  4. Proverbs 4:1 tn Heb “in order to come to know.” As a stative verb, יָדַע (yadaʿ) can mean “to know” or “to come to know,” the latter essentially meaning “to learn.” The infinitive indicates the purpose of the earlier imperatives.
  5. Proverbs 4:2 tn The perfect tense has the nuance of instantaneous (or performative) perfect; the sage is now calling the disciples to listen. It could also be a perfect of resolve, indicating what he is determined to do, or a present perfect reflecting his proven past history, “Indeed I have given you X.”
  6. Proverbs 4:3 tn Or “a boy with my father.”
  7. Proverbs 4:3 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 veyakhid, “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).
  8. Proverbs 4:4 tn The vav plus imperative “and live” expresses purpose, as is common with volitional verbs in a series.
  9. Proverbs 4:5 tn Heb “from the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); TEV, CEV “what I say.”sn The verse repeats the imperative “acquire” to underscore the importance of getting wisdom.
  10. Proverbs 4:6 tn Heb “her.” The referent of the pronoun is personified “wisdom,” which has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  11. Proverbs 4:7 tn The absolute and construct state of רֵאשִׁית (reʾshit) are identical (BDB 912 s.v.). Some treat רֵאשִׁית חָכְמָה (reʾshit khokhmah) as a genitive-construct phrase: “the beginning of wisdom” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV). Others take רֵאשִׁית as an absolute functioning as predicate and חָכְמָה as the subject: “wisdom is the first/chief thing” (cf. KJV, ASV). The context here suggests the predicate.
  12. Proverbs 4:7 tn The term “so” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style.
  13. Proverbs 4:7 tn The noun קִנְיָן (qinyan) means “thing got or acquired; acquisition” (BDB 889 s.v.). With the preposition that denotes price, it means “with (or at the price of) all that you have acquired.” The point is that no price is too high for wisdom—give everything for it (K&D 16:108).
  14. Proverbs 4:7 tc The verse is not in the LXX; some textual critics delete the verse as an impossible gloss that interrupts vv. 6 and 8 (e.g., C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 88).
  15. Proverbs 4:8 tn The verb is the Pilpel imperative from סָלַל (salal). In its ten Qal uses, it means to pile up, usually in building a road. The two uses in the doubling stems (here and Exod 9:17) are resultative or plurative, meaning “to raise up, to exalt.” To grant her a high position implies esteeming her.
  16. Proverbs 4:9 sn The personification of wisdom continues with the bestowal of a wreath for the head (e.g., 1:9). The point is that grace will be given to the individual like a wreath about the head.
  17. Proverbs 4:9 sn This verse uses wedding imagery: The wife (wisdom) who is embraced by her husband (the disciple) will place the wedding crown on the head of her new bridegroom. Wisdom, like a virtuous wife, will crown the individual with honor and grace. In vv. 4-9 Murphy points out the four fold repetition of “acquire” (קָנָה, qanah), the same term used of Boaz taking Ruth as a wife (Ruth 4:8, 10), and the calls to love her (Prov 4:6) and embrace her (4:8) (R. Murphy, Proverbs [WBC], 27). This section personifies wisdom and portrays the pursuit of wisdom as a paramount romantic pursuit.
  18. Proverbs 4:10 tn Heb “my son” (likewise in v. 20).
  19. Proverbs 4:10 tn Following an imperative, a vav plus imperfect verb can depict purpose or result.
  20. Proverbs 4:10 tn Heb “and the years of life will be many for you.”
  21. Proverbs 4:11 tn The form הֹרֵתִיךָ (horetikha) is the Hiphil perfect with a suffix from the root יָרָה (yarah, “to guide”). This and the parallel verb should be taken as instantaneous (or performative) perfects, translated as an English present tense: The sage is now instructing or pointing the way.sn The verb יָרָה (yarah) means “to teach; to instruct; to guide.” This is from the same root as the Hebrew word for “law” (torah). See G. R. Driver, “Hebrew Notes,” VT 1 (1951): 241-50; and J. L. Crenshaw, “The Acquisition of Knowledge in Israelite Wisdom Literature,” WW 7 (1986): 9.
  22. Proverbs 4:11 tn Heb “in the tracks of uprightness”; cf. NAB “on straightforward paths.” Both the verb and the object of the preposition make use of the idiom—the verb is the Hiphil perfect from דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, related to “road; way”) and the object is “wagon tracks, paths.”
  23. Proverbs 4:12 sn The noun צַעֲדֶךָ (tsaʿadekha, “your steps”) and the temporal infinitive בְּלֶכְתְּךָ (belekhtekha, “when you walk”) use the idiom of walking to represent the course of life. On that course there will be no obstacles; the “path” will be straight—morally and practically.
  24. Proverbs 4:12 sn The verb צָרַר (tsarar, “to be narrow; to be constricted”) refers to that which is narrow or constricted, signifying distress, trouble, adversity; that which was wide-open or broad represents freedom and deliverance.
  25. Proverbs 4:12 sn The progression from walking to running is an idiom called “anabasis,” suggesting that as greater and swifter progress is made, there will be nothing to impede the progress (e.g., Isa 40:31).
  26. Proverbs 4:13 tn Or “discipline.” See note at 1:2.
  27. Proverbs 4:13 tn The form נִצְּרֶהָ (nitsereha, from נָצַר, natsar) has an anomalous doubled letter (see GKC 73 §20.h).
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Proverbs 3
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