Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:16

This verse, which is almost identical to the first half of Isa 59.7, breaks the connection between verses 15 and 17. It is not found in some important Septuagint manuscripts. Some scholars suggest that it has been inserted by later copyists. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that verse 16 be placed in a note in translations that use notes. New American Bible places it between square brackets, New Jerusalem Bible places it in italics, and Moffatt omits it. However, most modern versions keep it without a footnote and this is recommended to translators by the authors of this Handbook.

Verse 16 gives the reason why the learner is being warned. It is stated in the form of a proverb or popular saying.

“Their feet run to evil”: “Feet” is used here as a figure of speech (a part for the whole) and represents the sinners of verse 10. Accordingly, in many languages “feet” must be replaced by “they” or “wicked people.” “Run to evil” means “hurry. . .,” “are in a rush. . .,” or “can’t wait to do something evil.”

In the second line the form of the “evil” is expressed in the phrase “shed blood”, which has the same sense as “blood” in verse 11. See Good News Translation for a model translation.

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 .

Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:17-18

Verse 17 is a single sentence saying and serves to introduce verse 18. The two verses are closely tied together as a contrast between birds that are not stupid and evildoers who are stupid. The opening word in Hebrew (“For” in Revised Standard Version) links these verses back to the warning in verse 15.

“In vain” translates an expression meaning “for no purpose,” “does no good,” “has no effect,” or “is useless.”

“Net is spread”: “Spread” renders a word that may mean spread out, or refer to the scattering of seed to bait a trap.

“In the sight” is literally “in the eyes of,” meaning “where the birds can see the trap.” “Any bird” is literally “possessor of wings”; it is a poetic expression like “winged creature” in English, and is used only here and in Eccl 10.20.

There are at least three ways to understand the meaning of verse 17 and the relation between verses 17 and 18. All are equally valid.

(1) Verse 17 can be understood to mean that birds won’t be caught in a trap they can see being set for them. And verse 18 means that evil people are setting their own trap and being caught in it. So the birds are wise and the sinners are blind and foolish.
(2) Even though the birds see the trap being baited for them, they pay no attention to the trap in order to get the bait (scattered seeds). The wicked in verse 18 are like the careless, hungry birds, so hungry for violence and wealth that they pay no attention to the trap they are setting for themselves.
(3) Verse 17 applies to the learner; that is, just as the bird avoids the trap it sees being set, so the learner will know how to avoid the dangers of life, and not be like the wicked people mentioned in verse 18.

Many modern versions favor the first understanding. For a model translation following this interpretation see Good News Translation. Another way of expressing this is: “Birds have the right thinking—if a bird sees a person setting a net, it won’t get caught.”

The Contemporary English Version footnote follows the third interpretation: “Be like a bird that won’t go for the bait, if it sees the trap.”

“But these men” refers to the wicked robbers described in verses 11-14 who tempt the learner to join them.

“Lie in wait” is the same expression as the one used in verse 11 where the wicked people lie in wait for other people’s blood. In verse 18 they prepare their own deaths.

There is a full parallelism in verse 18 in which the second line repeats the sense of the first line using other words. “Set an ambush” translates the same word used in verse 11. “For their own lives” translates “for their own souls [Hebrew nefesh]” meaning “for their own physical lives.”

Two ways in which we may render verse 18 are, for example:

  • People who rob others set the trap that will destroy them. They lay an ambush to take away their own lives.
  • Robbers are killed in their own traps. They are destroyed by their own ambushes.

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 .

Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:19

Verse 19 concludes this subdivision by summing up all that was said by way of warning and argument in verses 15-18.

“Such are the ways”: “Ways” renders the Hebrew text. New Revised Standard Version has followed the Septuagint, which has “end,” meaning “destiny” or “fate,” the final result that is reached by obtaining “gain by violence”. “Gain” is used without any qualification in the Hebrew text, but the sense is “unjust, wrongful gain,” as used in connection with extortion in Ezek 22.13.

“It takes away the life of its possessors”: “It” refers to getting gain or wealth by violent acts. “Possessors” refers to the people who do these violent deeds, the robbers. The sense of verse 19 is that everyone who robs to get wealth is destroyed. Contemporary English Version says “The wealth you get from crime robs you of your life.” :In some languages this must be expressed as a simile rather than as a metaphor: “It is like what they steal destroying them.” A common idiomatic rendering is: “Killing and robbing is the road to death!”

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 .

Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:20

“Wisdom cries aloud in the street”: “Wisdom” renders a word that Scott calls “an archaic Canaanite form.” It is found elsewhere in 24.7 and in Psa 49.3 (Hebrew verse 4). There is no apparent reason to translate it differently than the word used in verses 2 and 7.

Personification is a regular aspect of rhetorical style in most languages; in some, however, it may not be used for a term or concept like “Wisdom”. There are also some languages in which “Wisdom” is equated with intelligence, and the word is not personified merely by using a capital letter. In such cases there are two ways to handle the personification:

(1) Convert to a simile; for example, “Wisdom is like a woman crying out in the street.” In this case “Wisdom” will be replaced in some of the verses that follow by the appropriate pronouns.
(2) Another possibility is to use an honorary feminine title, for example, “Mother Wisdom.”
(3) If that solution is not workable, it may be necessary to explain the personification in a note. The note may say something like “In verses 20 and 21 Wisdom is presented as a speaking person, a woman. Verses 22-33 contain her speech.”

“Cries aloud” in this context means “call out to,” or “ring out a shout,” to get the attention of people in the noise and confusion of a busy market scene. “Street” refers to the areas outside the houses in a town setting.

“Markets” translates a word referring to the town square located inside the city in front of the gate. The “street” and “markets” were gathering places for people. See Amos 5.16 and Ruth 4.11 (“at the gate”).

“She raises her voice”: “She” and “her” are feminine pronouns in the Hebrew and refer to “Wisdom”. “Raises her voice” is literally “gives her voice” and means “makes her voice heard” or “causes them to listen to what she says.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:21

“On the top of the walls” is literally “on the top of noise.” The image is of a noisy crowd. Here Revised Standard Version has chosen to follow the Septuagint. New Revised Standard Version has revised to say “At the busiest corner.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends “in the most noisy places.”

“At the entrance of the city gates” describes more precisely the place spoken of in the second line of verse 20. This is the part of the city where legal and other public matters were handled. In translation it is not always necessary to mention “the city gates”, as it is the function of this part of the city that is important. It is frequently called “the public square” or in some languages “the village courtyard.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:22

Verses 22-33 contain Wisdom’s message to the people. In many languages it will be necessary to add “She says:. . .” or “This is what she says:. . .” at this point.

Verses 22-27 are addressed to the people mentioned in verse 22 using “you [plural].” However, verses 28-32 switch to “they.” Some modern translations keep the “you” form throughout. See Good News Translation.

“How long?” is not a question about time; rather it opens a rhetorical question meaning “All the time you are being foolish. It is time to stop” or “You have been foolish for too long. Stop being foolish.”

“Simple ones” renders the same word as used in verse 4; however, here it refers not just to immature and inexperienced people but rather to those who, as Toy says, “love ignorance, and deliberately refuse to listen to instruction in right living.” Many versions use terms equivalent to “silly,” “stupid,” or “foolish.” In verse 7 fools are described as despising wisdom. Such people are contrasted often to the wise who listen to advice. Foolish people not only reject the highest wisdom, they literally “love” foolishness.

In some languages such persons are described by bad body parts such as “black livers,” “gourd heads,” or “rotten heart people.”

In the second line Revised Standard Version and many other versions supply “How long?” to introduce the parallel question. The Hebrew does not repeat the question form. “Scoffers” renders a term used in Psa 1.1 and Isa 29.20 that refers to people who openly scorn or ridicule God and religion. The term is used often in Proverbs for a person who expresses contempt for wisdom. In some languages “scoffers” is expressed figuratively as “people who shake their finger at” or “. . . wag their head at.” “Delight in” in the second line matches “love” in the first line.

“Fools hate knowledge”: “Fools” renders a noun whose verb form is found only in Jer 10.8, where it means “to be foolish.” Toy says the noun refers to a person who is “insensible to moral truth and acts without regard to it.” “Hate” is used here in the same way as in Micah 3.2. It is in contrast with “love” and “delight in” in the first two lines. “Knowledge” is the same word as used in verse 7. To “hate knowledge” is to “reject” or “refuse” it.

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 .

Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:23

“Give heed to my reproof”: Wisdom is addressing her words to the simple ones, the scoffers, and the fools mentioned in verse 22. “Give heed”, as the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, is literally “turn,” an expression that sometimes means to “listen to” or “pay attention to.” “Reproof” translates a word used frequently in Proverbs; “reproof” is the correction given to someone who is at fault. “My reproof” means the correction, reprimand, rebuke, or scolding that Wisdom gives the foolish. A translation of the whole line that expresses this says, “Now I speak to you to correct you, and you must listen!” Another renders “reproof” as “speak strongly to you about letting go your bad behavior.”

“Behold, I will pour out my thoughts to you”: “Behold” calls attention to the importance of what is about to follow. Contemporary English Version combines the three lines of this verse and begins “Listen as I correct you and tell you. . ..” “Pour out my thoughts” is literally “pour out my spirit.” The Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible note is instructive at this point: “The spirit of wisdom may mean its inspiration which gives religious intelligence for human conduct (compare the sense of spirit in Job 32.8). It may also mean the Spirit promised by certain prophets (Isa 11.1-4; Joel 3).”

In any event Wisdom is likened to a fountain of water, a gushing spring for the person who will accept her instruction. Translations differ considerably in this line. New American Bible has “pour out to you my spirit,” New Jewish Publication Society Version “speak my mind,” New Jerusalem Bible “pour out my heart,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “I open to you [plural] the treasure of my wisdom.”

It seems best to understand “my spirit” (“my thoughts”) in terms of what characterizes Wisdom, who is the speaker here. Her essential characteristic is wisdom, and therefore we may say something equivalent to Good News Translation “I will give you good advice” or Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “I will fill you with wisdom.”

“I will make my words known to you”: This line repeats the thought of the previous line. “My words” means “my thoughts,” “my decisions,” “what I think.” Since the people refuse to listen to the words or thoughts of Wisdom, she tells them how she will treat them with scorn.

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 .

Translation commentary on Proverbs 1:24

Verses 24-25 state the reason why Wisdom will mock at those who reject her invitation. Each verse consists of two lines that have essentially the same meaning.

“Because I have called and you refused to listen”: “Called” here has the sense of “invited” or “advised.” “Listen” is not expressed in the Hebrew but is the obvious sense of “refused”.

“Stretched out my hand” refers to the gesture of beckoning or inviting someone to come toward the one calling.

“No one has heeded”: “Heeded” renders a verb meaning to pay attention, so some translate “No one has paid any attention to me.” Contemporary English Version says “You completely ignored 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 .