箴言 8
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
智慧的呼唤
8 智慧不是在呼唤吗？
悟性不是在呐喊吗？
2 她在路边高处站立，
她在十字街头停留，
3 在城门旁，在入口处大喊：
4 “世人啊，我呼唤你们，
我向全人类大声呼吁。
5 愚昧人啊，要学会谨慎！
愚顽人啊，要慎思明辨！
6 你们听啊，我要说美好的话，
开口谈论正直的事。
7 我的口传扬真理，
我的嘴憎恨邪恶。
8 我口中的言语公正，
没有一句错谬的话。
9 我的话，智者明白，哲士认同。
10 要接受我的教诲，而非白银；
要选择知识，而非黄金。
11 因为智慧比宝石更珍贵，
一切美物都不能与之相比。
12 “我智慧与谨慎同住，
我拥有知识和明辨力。
13 敬畏耶和华就当憎恨邪恶，
我憎恨骄傲、狂妄、恶道和谎言。
14 我有谋略和真知，
又有悟性和能力。
15 君王靠我安邦定国，
首领借我秉公行义，
16 王公大臣靠我治理天下，
官宦贵胄凭我公正断案。
17 爱我的，我也爱他；
恳切寻求我的，必能寻见。
18 富贵和尊荣在我，
恒久的产业和公义也在我。
19 我的果实胜过纯金，
我的出产胜过纯银。
20 我在公义的道上奔走，
在公平的路上前行。
21 我要赐财富给爱我的人，
使他们的库房充盈。
22 “在耶和华造物的起头，
在太初万物被造以前，
就已经有我。
23 从亘古，从太初，
大地还没有形成以前，
我已经被立。
24 没有深渊，
没有涌流的水泉以前，
我已经诞生。
25 大山未曾奠定，
小丘未曾形成，
我已经出生。
26 那时耶和华还没有造大地和原野，
还没有造一粒尘土。
27 祂铺设诸天的时候，我已在场。
祂在深渊上画出地平线，
28 上使穹苍坚固，
下使深渊的泉源安稳，
29 设定沧海的界限，
使海水不得越过祂定的范围，
为大地奠定根基的时候，
30 我就在祂身旁，
做祂的工程师，
天天成为祂的喜乐，
终日在祂面前欢悦，
31 因祂所造的人世而欢悦，
因祂所造的世人而喜乐。
32 “孩子们啊，你们要听从我，
持守我道路的人有福了。
33 要听从教诲，不可轻忽，
要做智者。
34 人若听从我、天天在我门口仰望、
时时在我门边等候，就有福了。
35 因为找到我的，便找到了生命，
他必蒙耶和华的恩惠。
36 没找到我就是害自己；
憎恨我就是喜爱死亡。”
Proverbs 8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 8
The Discourse of Wisdom[a]
1 Does not Wisdom call,
and Understanding raise her voice?(A)
2 On the top of the heights along the road,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3 By the gates at the approaches of the city,
in the entryways she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O people, I call;
my appeal is to you mortals.
5 You naive ones, gain prudence,
you fools,[b] gain sense.
6 Listen! for noble things I speak;
my lips proclaim honest words.
7 [c]Indeed, my mouth utters truth,
and my lips abhor wickedness.
8 All the words of my mouth are sincere,
none of them wily or crooked;
9 All of them are straightforward to the intelligent,
and right to those who attain knowledge.
10 Take my instruction instead of silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 [For Wisdom is better than corals,
and no treasures can compare with her.(B)]
12 I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and useful knowledge I have.
13 [The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil;]
Pride, arrogance, the evil way,
and the perverse mouth I hate.(C)
14 Mine are counsel and advice;
Mine is strength; I am understanding.[d]
15 By me kings reign,
and rulers enact justice;
16 By me princes govern,
and nobles, all the judges of the earth.
17 Those who love me I also love,
and those who seek me find me.
18 With me are riches and honor,(D)
wealth that endures, and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
and my yield than choice silver.(E)
20 On the way of righteousness I walk,
along the paths of justice,
21 Granting wealth to those who love me,
and filling their treasuries.
22 [e]“The Lord begot me, the beginning of his works,
the forerunner of his deeds of long ago;(F)
23 From of old I was formed,[f]
at the first, before the earth.(G)
24 [g]When there were no deeps I was brought forth,
when there were no fountains or springs of water;
25 Before the mountains were settled into place,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
26 When the earth and the fields were not yet made,
nor the first clods of the world.
27 When he established the heavens, there was I,(H)
when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep;
28 When he made firm the skies above,
when he fixed fast the springs of the deep;
29 When he set for the sea its limit,
so that the waters should not transgress his command;
When he fixed the foundations of earth,
30 then was I beside him as artisan;[h](I)
I was his delight day by day,
playing before him all the while,
31 Playing over the whole of his earth,
having my delight with human beings.
32 [i]Now, children, listen to me;
happy are they who keep my ways.
33 Listen to instruction and grow wise,
do not reject it!
34 Happy the one who listens to me,
attending daily at my gates,
keeping watch at my doorposts;
35 For whoever finds me finds life,(J)
and wins favor from the Lord;
36 But those who pass me by do violence to themselves;
all who hate me love death.”
Footnotes
- 8:1–36
Chapter 8 is Wisdom’s longest speech in the book. Wisdom is here personified as in 1:20–33. She exalts her grandeur and origin, and invites all (vv. 1–11) to be attentive to her salutary influence in human society (vv. 12–21), for she was privileged to be present at the creation of the world (vv. 22–31). Finally, she promises life and the favor of God to those who are devoted to her, death to those who reject her.
The poem has four sections, each (except the fourth) with two parts of five lines each:
I. A. vv. 1–5 B. vv. 6–10 II. A. vv. 12–16 B. vv. 17–21 III. A. vv. 22–26 B. vv. 27–31 IV. vv. 32–36 Within chaps. 1–9, chap. 8 is the companion piece to Wisdom’s first speech in 1:20–33. There she spoke harshly, giving a promise only in the last line; here she speaks invitingly, giving a threat only in the last line.
Chapter 8 is the best-known chapter in Proverbs and has profoundly influenced Jewish and Christian thought. The most explicit and lengthy biblical comment is in Sir 24; it too has thirty-five lines in seven five-line stanzas and develops the theme of Wisdom’s intimacy with God and desire to be with human beings. The Gospel of John portrays Jesus in the language of wisdom in Proverbs: Jesus, like Wisdom, calls out to people to listen to him, promises to tell them the truth, seeks disciples, invites them to a banquet, and gives them life. Writers in the patristic period used the language of pre-existent wisdom to express the idea of the pre-existent Word with God.
- 8:5 Naive ones…fools: see note on 1:4.
- 8:7–8 The truth and sincerity of wisdom are absolute because they are of divine origin. They can neither deceive nor tolerate deception. The intelligent understand and accept this. “Straight” and “crooked” in Hebrew and English are metaphors for true, trustworthy and false, deceitful.
- 8:14 What is here predicated of Wisdom is elsewhere attributed to God (Jb 12:13–16).
- 8:22–31 Wisdom is of divine origin. She is represented as existing before all things (vv. 22–26), when God planned and created the universe, adorning it with beauty and variety, and establishing its wonderful order (vv. 27–30). The purpose of the two cosmogonies (vv. 22–26 and 27–31) is to ground Wisdom’s claims. The first cosmogony emphasizes that she was born before all else (and so deserving of honor) and the second underscores that she was with the Lord during the creation of the universe. The pre-existence of Woman Wisdom with God is developed in Sir 24 and in New Testament hymns to Christ, especially in Jn 1 and Col 1:15–20.
- 8:23 Formed: since the other verbs of the origin of Wisdom in these verses describe birth, it is likely that the somewhat uncertain verb is to be understood of birth as in Ps 139:13.
- 8:24–26 Perhaps the formless mass from which God created the heavens and the earth; cf. Gn 1:1–2; 2:4–6.
- 8:30 Artisan: the translation of the Hebrew word ’āmôn has been controverted since antiquity. There have been three main opinions: (1) artisan; (2) trustworthy (friend); (3) ward, nursling. The most likely explanation is that ’āmôn is artisan, related to Akkadian ummānu, legendary sages and heroes who brought divine gifts and culture to the human race. I was his delight: the chiastic or ABBA structure of vv. 30–31 unifies the four lines and underscores the analogy between Woman Wisdom’s intimate relation to the Lord and her intimate relation to human beings, i.e., “delight” + “playing” parallels “playing” + “delight.” She is God’s friend and intimate and invites human beings to a similar relationship to God through her.
- 8:32–36 The final appeal of Woman Wisdom to her disciples is similar to the appeal of the father in 7:24–27.
Chinese Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1979, 2005, 2007, 2011 by Biblica® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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