HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

1.31 Eat the fruit, be sated. Food is a metaphor for attitude and action, particularly the enjoyment and fruits of learning or the choice and outcome of refusing to learn (see also 4.17; 9.2, 5, 17; 18.21; 26.22; 27.7, 18; 28.7; 30.20).

  1.32–33 Wisdom does not herself execute the punishment.

  1.32 A proverb suggesting evil brings its own reward.

  1.33 Be secure (lit. “dwell secure”); the same phrase describes faithful Israel’s life in the land (Deut 33.28). Dread. See vv. 26–27.

  PROVERBS 2

  The Value of Wisdom

  1My child, if you accept my words

  and treasure up my commandments within you,

  2making your ear attentive to wisdom

  and inclining your heart to understanding;

  3if you indeed cry out for insight,

  and raise your voice for understanding;

  4if you seek it like silver,

  and search for it as for hidden treasures—

  5then you will understand the fear of the LORD

  and find the knowledge of God.

  6For the LORD gives wisdom;

  from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

  7he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

  he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,

  8guarding the paths of justice

  and preserving the way of his faithful ones.

  9Then you will understand righteousness

  and justice and equity, every good path;

  10for wisdom will come into your heart,

  and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

  11prudence will watch over you;

  and understanding will guard you.

  12It will save you from the way of evil,

  from those who speak perversely,

  13who forsake the paths of uprightness

  to walk in the ways of darkness,

  14who rejoice in doing evil

  and delight in the perverseness of evil;

  15those whose paths are crooked,

  and who are devious in their ways.

  16You will be saved from the loosea woman,

  from the adulteress with her smooth words,

  17who forsakes the partner of her youth

  and forgets her sacred covenant;

  18for her wayb leads down to death,

  and her paths to the shades;

  19those who go to her never come back,

  nor do they regain the paths of life.

  20Therefore walk in the way of the good,

  and keep to the paths of the just.

  21For the upright will abide in the land,

  and the innocent will remain in it;

  22but the wicked will be cut off from the land,

  and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

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  a Heb strange

  b Cn: Heb house

  2.1–22 This second instruction repeats several key themes from ch. 1 and introduces treasure as a symbol for wisdom (vv. 1, 4; see note on 1.13). It does not itself teach wisdom, but rather prepares and encourages listeners/readers for the ensuing instructions.

  2.1 Commandments, here the words of a human teacher, elsewhere in the Bible God’s commandments (see note on 1.8; also 3.1; 4.4; 6.20, 23; 7.2).

  2.2–11 In the extended introduction (exordium), the father presents his own words as the wisdom to be sought.

  2.2 The heart, the seat of the mind, must be connected to the ear (cf. the “understanding mind,” lit. “listening heart” requested by wise Solomon, 1 Kings 3.9; see, e.g., Prov 3.5; 4.20–21, 23; 5.1, 13; 6.18, 25; 7.3, 25; 15.14; 25.12). Inclining the heart thus means desiring and choosing understanding.

  2.3 Cry out, raise your voice. The same verbs describe Wisdom’s call (1.20; cf. 1.28).

  2.4–5 Hidden treasures. Wisdom must be actively sought, a variation on the theme of her public accessibility.

  2.5 Although fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (1.7), finding wisdom allows one to understand that fear. Thus wisdom leads to knowledge of God, to conscience and religious awareness (see also 9.10).

  2.6–11 The LORD is the source of wisdom and its protective power, yet wisdom, prudence, and understanding are active agents in vv. 10–12 (see also 3.21–26; 4.6; 6.24).

  2.6 From his mouth. Not verbal revelation, but the source of God’s gift of wisdom.

  2.7 Sound wisdom, neither an intellectual nor a moral faculty, but practical resourcefulness.

  2.12–15 Cf. the portrayal of the violent men in 1.10–19. Perverse speech is as much at issue as evil actions. Uprightness. See note on 1.3. Crookedness characterizes the wicked.

  2.13 Darkness suggests both evil and ignorance; cf. the light of wisdom (see also 4.18–19; 6.23; 7.9).

  2.16–19 These verses introduce a key female figure typically described with two closely related Hebrew words. Better than loose woman, adulteress are the more literal translations “strange woman,” “alien woman” (cf. the masculine form, 5.10; 20.16; 27.2, 13). Extramarital sexuality was regarded as a fundamental evil in its own right, but the doubled, multivalent, and evocative terms for strangeness may intimate a more pervasive male sense of female danger (see also 5.3–14, 19–20; 6.24–35; 7.1–27). The terms can mean “foreign in nationality,” but that does not seem to be the issue here; contrast Neh 13. The postexilic period seems nonetheless to have had its problems with women regarded as outsiders to whatever group was in charge (e.g., Ezra 9–10; Mal 2.10–16), and the Proverbs figure may channel some of that anxiety. Woman Stranger is equated with Woman Folly in 9.13–18 (cf. 5.22–23).

  2.16 The woman’s smooth words may at first sound sweeter than the evil men’s crooked speech, but they are no less dangerous (see note on 1.6; also 2.12).

  2.17 Marital faithlessness is linked with religious deviation (cf. Mal 2.10–16; also cf. Prov 5.15–18; 7.4). Her sacred covenant (lit. “the covenant of her God”) may refer simply to her marriage contract, but evokes the marital metaphor often used for God and Israel.

  2.18–19 Way parallels paths (see note on 1.15–16), but the images of the “way” and the woman’s deadly house (see text note b) are often connected (see 1.13, 15; 5.8, 10; 7.8, 11, 19, 27; 9.13–15; note on 1.13). Those who go [lit. “come”] to her has a sexual connotation in Hebrew as in English.

  2.20–22 Cut off from the land probably means premature death or death without heirs, but may sound undertones of the covenant tradition.

  PROVERBS 3

  Admonition to Trust and Honor God

  1My child, do not forget my teaching,

  but let your heart keep my commandments;

  2for length of days and years of life

  and abundant welfare they will give you.

  3Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;

  bind them around your neck,

  write them on the tablet of your heart.

  4So you will find favor and good repute

  in the sight of God and of people.

  5Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

  and do not rely on your own insight.

  6In all your ways acknowledge him,

  and he will make straight your paths.

  7Do not be wise in your own eyes;

  fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

  8It will be a healing for your flesh

  and a refreshment for your body.

  9Honor the LORD with your substance

  and with the first fruits of all your produce;

  10then your barns will be filled with plenty,

  and your vats will be bursting with wine.

  11My child, do not despise the LORD’s discipline

  or be weary of his reproof,

  12for the LORD reproves the one he loves,

  as a father the son in whom he delights.

  The True Wealth

  13Happy are those who find wisdom,

  and those who get understanding,

  14for her
income is better than silver,

  and her revenue better than gold.

  15She is more precious than jewels,

  and nothing you desire can compare with her.

  16Long life is in her right hand;

  in her left hand are riches and honor.

  17Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

  and all her paths are peace.

  18She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;

  those who hold her fast are called happy.

  God’s Wisdom in Creation

  19The LORD by wisdom founded the earth;

  by understanding he established the heavens;

  20by his knowledge the deeps broke open,

  and the clouds drop down the dew.

  The True Security

  21My child, do not let these escape from your sight:

  keep sound wisdom and prudence,

  22and they will be life for your soul

  and adornment for your neck.

  23Then you will walk on your way securely

  and your foot will not stumble.

  24If you sit down,a you will not be afraid;

  when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

  25Do not be afraid of sudden panic,

  or of the storm that strikes the wicked;

  26for the LORD will be your confidence

  and will keep your foot from being caught.

  27Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,b

  when it is in your power to do it.

  28Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,

  tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.

  29Do not plan harm against your neighbor

  who lives trustingly beside you.

  30Do not quarrel with anyone without cause,

  when no harm has been done to you.

  31Do not envy the violent

  and do not choose any of their ways;

  32for the perverse are an abomination to the LORD,

  but the upright are in his confidence.

  33The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked,

  but he blesses the abode of the righteous.

  34Toward the scorners he is scornful,

  but to the humble he shows favor.

  35The wise will inherit honor,

  but stubborn fools, disgrace.

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  a Gk: Heb lie down

  b Heb from its owners

  3.1–35 This chapter is stitched together with the motifs of commandments (v. 1; cf. the list in vv. 27–31), long life (vv. 2, 16), honor (vv. 4, 9, 16, 35), virtue imaged as adornments (vv. 3, 22), and material blessings (vv. 2, 8, 10, 16, 33; cf. 4.8, 10, 22; 5.9–11; 6.33; 8.18–20; 9.11).

  3.1–12 In the third lecture, the father’s teaching and commandments (v. 1) are aligned with the LORD’S discipline (vv. 11–12; see notes on 1.8; 2.1). This wisdom, though human, has a status beyond the “merely” human; thus one should not rely on one’s own insight or be wise in one’s own eyes (vv. 5, 7; see also 12.15; 26.5, 12, 16; 28.11; 28.26).

  3.3 Loyalty (Hebrew chesed; see 31.26) is always given by a superior to an inferior; thus, the pupil is admonished to live so as not to be abandoned by God.

  3.3 Bind…neck. See 1.9. Write…heart, internalize the father’s teachings in order to remember them.

  3.4 Social approval or disapproval (often termed honor and shame/disgrace) defined the relationship of the individual to society (see vv. 16, 35; 4.8; 5.9, 14; 6.33–35; 8.18; 11.16; 15.33; 18.12; 20.3; 25.2–3, 7c–10, 27; 26.1, 8; 27.11; 28.7; 29.15, 23).

  3.5, 7 Not rely on your own insight, not be wise in your own eyes, a rare but important caution against hubris in wisdom; fear the LORD is the corrective.

  3.8 On healing vs. destruction of the body, see also 4.22; 5.11; 6.33. Body, lit. “bones,” is paired, as often, with “flesh.”

  3.9–10 An admonition to observe ritual law (Lev 2.14; Num 28.6), rare in wisdom literature.

  3.11–12 Not all discipline is punishment.

  3.13–18 Hymn to personified Wisdom (see 1.20–33) using several conventional motifs: comparison to treasure (see 1.13); long life, riches, honor as Wisdom’s gifts (see 3.1–12); and calling her a tree of life (see also 11.30; 13.12; 15.4).

  3.13 Happy are those, a typical wisdom formula (macarism) identical to that in the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3–12; Lk 6:20–23; see also Prov 8.34; 20.7; 28.14; 29.18; 31.28).

  3.16 The Egyptian goddess Maat, depicted with symbols of life and wealth in her hands, is possibly a source for female Wisdom.

  3.18 Lay hold of, hold…fast. Strong words of physical embrace describe the student’s relationship to Woman Wisdom or the Strange Woman (see also 4.4, 8, 13; 5.2, 20; 7.13).

  3.19–20 A short hymn to the creator God that gives wisdom cosmological significance. The connection between God, Wisdom, and creation is elaborated in 8.22–36. Control of the water of the deeps under the earth and in the heavens above is crucial to life on earth.

  3.21–35 The father’s fourth lecture.

  3.21–26 On the inner and outer effects of wisdom and wickedness.

  3.22 The artistry of the couplet is hard to capture in translation. Adornment (Hebrew hen) forms an alliteration with life (chayyim). The first line (life, soul) seems to represent an inner state, while the second line (adornment, neck) its outer manifestation. But the word for soul (nephesh) can also mean “throat,” breaking the inner-outer distinction in typical Israelite fashion. On virtue as adornment, see 1.9.

  3.24–26 See 1.26–27.

  3.26 Caught. See 1.17.

  3.27–32 Admonitions to treat others fairly. The apodictic do not is like that of the Ten Commandments.

  3.27–29 Good. The context suggests something that is owed. On the sages’ concern for financial obligations, see 6.1–5; 7.19–20. Neighbor, not just someone who lives nearby, but anyone one has dealings with.

  3.31–32 See 1.8–19.

  3.33–35 Wicked/righteous, wise/fools, two central word pairs, here equated (cf. 1.3; 5.21–23), elsewhere independent (see, e.g., ch. 10; 25.5).

  3.35 A proverb closes the instruction with persuasive force (see 1.17).

  PROVERBS 4

  Parental Advice

  1Listen, children, to a father’s instruction,

  and be attentive, that you may gaina insight;

  2for I give you good precepts:

  do not forsake my teaching.

  3When I was a son with my father,

  tender, and my mother’s favorite,

  4he taught me, and said to me,

  “Let your heart hold fast my words;

  keep my commandments, and live.

  5Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away

  from the words of my mouth.

  6Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;

  love her, and she will guard you.

  7The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,

  and whatever else you get, get insight.

  8Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;

  she will honor you if you embrace her.

  9She will place on your head a fair garland;

  she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

  Admonition to Keep to the Right Path

  10Hear, my child, and accept my words,

  that the years of your life may be many.

  11I have taught you the way of wisdom;

  I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

  12When you walk, your step will not be hampered;

  and if you run, you will not stumble.

  13Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;

  guard her, for she is your life.

  14Do not enter the path of the wicked,

  and do not walk in the way of evildoers.

  15Avoid it; do not go on it;

  turn away from it and pass on.

  16For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;

  they ar
e robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.

  17For they eat the bread of wickedness

  and drink the wine of violence.

  18But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,

  which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

  19The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

  they do not know what they stumble over.

  20My child, be attentive to my words;

  incline your ear to my sayings.

  21Do not let them escape from your sight;

  keep them within your heart.

  22For they are life to those who find them,

  and healing to all their flesh.

  23Keep your heart with all vigilance,

  for from it flow the springs of life.

  24Put away from you crooked speech,

  and put devious talk far from you.

  25Let your eyes look directly forward,

  and your gaze be straight before you.

  26Keep straight the path of your feet,

  and all your ways will be sure.

  27Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

  turn your foot away from evil.

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  a Heb know

  4.1–5.23 Woman Wisdom, the Violent Men, and the Strange Woman elaborated.

  4.1–9 An instruction poem focused on love of Woman Wisdom (see 1.20–33). Though the speaker’s mother is mentioned, the poem presents a father’s teaching of his father’s instruction to his sons on Wisdom, the woman they should love.

  4.4–6 Not turning away from the father’s words and not forsaking Woman Wisdom are poetically identified; here female imagery increases the desirability and authority of male teaching. If the student keeps the commandments, Woman Wisdom will keep, guard him (see 2.7–8).

  4.5, 7 Get wisdom, get insight. The same verb describes the Lord’s approach to Wisdom in (see note on) 8.22.

  4.7 Note the tautology: the goal and the process are of the same order; cf. 1.7.

  4.8–9 A scene of a marriage festival with the groom in kingly array (cf. Song 3.6–11), or of a ceremony in which a high-status woman confers honor (see note on 3.4) on her protégé? Imagery of Woman Wisdom as lover and guardian is mixed throughout Prov 1–9 (see 1.20–33; 2.10–12), perhaps merging in the idealization of the wife (5.15–18; 12.4; 31.10–31). Embrace. See note on 3.18. Garland, crown. See 1.9.