“Receive instruction in wise dealing”: “Instruction” translates the same noun as in verse 2. “Receive instruction” means to allow yourself to be taught. The thought expressed is again that “these proverbs will teach [train] you” or “from these proverbs you can learn.”
“Wise dealing” translates a noun meaning prudence, insight, understanding, good sense. This term is used in 1 Sam 25.3 to describe the practical good sense of Abigail in contrast to her ill-natured husband, Nabal (meaning “fool”). New American Bible calls this “wise conduct,” Moffatt “right conduct,” New Jewish Publication Society Version “discipline for success,” New Jerusalem Bible “disciplined insight”; New English Bible and Revised English Bible have “well-instructed intelligence.” Good News Translation retains the idea of conduct or practical living by translating “how to live intelligently,” which is a good model.
We may also translate, for example, “This book will teach you how to act wisely,” or “These proverbs will instruct you in the right way to behave.” In some languages it will be more natural to express “right kind of living” idiomatically; for example, “how to walk on the right path of life” or “how to sit down with a wise heart.”
“Righteousness, justice, and equity”: These may be three additional qualities that can be developed by the person who practices the discipline of learning from the proverbs, or they may be taken as three aspects of “wise dealing”. Most translators take them as additional qualities. “Righteousness” in the context of moral conduct refers to right behavior and was used in the legal sense of being in the right in a lawsuit (so Toy). However, the close connection between “righteousness” and wisdom throughout the book of Proverbs “shows that it is not simply a legal or social attitude. Righteousness and wisdom are considered as complementary forms of a single basic attitude of spiritual uprightness with the same happy consequences: life, honor, and glory” (Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible notes).
“Justice” translates a Hebrew noun often rendered as “judgment,” which refers to both the process and the final judgment of the judge (human or God) in making legal decisions. The result of justice is that which is right, fitting, or proper. “Equity” refers to fairness and has about the same meaning as “justice”.
Although many translations express these three nouns as abstracts, it is often necessary to shift to verb phrases as in Good News Translation “how to be honest, just, and fair.” See also Contemporary English Version “what is right and honest and fair.” In some languages it may be necessary to express each noun as a phrase; for example, “how to live in a right way, do what is honest, and be fair to others.” Where figurative expressions are more natural, we may sometimes say “how to walk on the right path, think with one heart, and speak with one tongue.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .