“I love those who love me”: The text of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia has “those who love her,” but Revised Standard Version, like most commentaries and translations, follows the variant footnote “loves me.” We may translate, for example, “I love everyone who loves me.”

“Those who seek me diligently find me”: “Seek . . . diligently” is the Revised Standard Version translation of the intensive form of the verb to seek. Bible en français courant says “Those who love me, I love them in return. Those who look for me are sure to find me.”

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 .