Proverbs 1:1-7, annotated.

This translation is from the New Jerusalem Bible. Other translations are available here. Information about the original Hebrew meaning of what seem to be the key words is provided immediately below the scriptural text.  

 

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The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

²For learning what wisdom and discipline are, 

For understanding words of deep meaning,

³For acquiring a disciplined insight, uprightness, justice and fair dealing;

⁴For teaching sound judgement to the simple, and knowledge and reflection to the young;

⁵Let the wise listen and learn yet more, and a person of discernment will acquire the art of guidance.

⁶For perceiving the meaning of proverbs and obscure sayings, the sayings of the sages and their riddles.

⁷ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools spurn wisdom and discipline.

 

***

 

proverbs = מָשָׁל = māšāl  Blue Letter Bible   proverbial saying, aphorism; byword; similitude, parable; sentences of ethical wisdom, ethical maxims; superiority in mental action; pithy maxim, usually of metaphorical nature

 

son = בֵּן = bēn  Blue Letter Bible  son, grandson, child, member of a group; male child; young men; children (pl. - male and female); foster son; disciple; one related to a time, place, emotion, condition, status; term of kindliness or endearment; expression of intimate and gracious relation

 

learning =יָדַע= yāḏaʿ  Blue Letter Bible  to perceive and see, find out and discern; to discriminate, distinguish; to know by experience; to recognize; be acquainted with; to know (a person carnally); to know how, be skillful in; to have knowledge, be wise;  to be made known, be or become known, be revealed; to be instructed; privy to; seeing; observe with the eyes; be aware of; to get to know, discover; to turn the mind to anything, to care about, to see about; recognize, admit, acknowledge, confess; discover

 

wisdom = חָכְמָה = ḥāḵmâ Blue Letter Bible a divine attribute or energy; cleverness; shrewdness; skill; prudence; cleverness; dexterity; wit; piety towards God

 

discipline = מוּסָר = muwcar  Blue Letter Bible  discipline, chastening, correction; reproof, warning or instruction; doctrine, instruction, rebuke; admonition; restraint 

 

understanding = בִּין = bîn  Blue Letter Bible  to discern, understand, consider; to perceive, discern; to observe, mark, give heed to, distinguish, consider; to have discernment, insight, understanding; to be discerning, intelligent, discreet, have understanding; to show oneself discerning or attentive, consider diligently; look well to, mark

 

words = אֵמֶר = 'ēmer  Blue Letter Bible  utterance, speech, word, saying, promise; command, mandate; something said; appointed unto him; saying, speech, word 

 

deep meaning = בִּינָה = bînâ Blue Letter Bible  discernment; knowledge; insight; wisdom; intelligence; insight; skill

 

acquiring = לָקַח = lāqaḥ Blue Letter Bible to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire; to take and carry along; to take from, take out of, take, carry away, take away; to take (in the widest variety of applications)

 

disciplined insight—see “discipline” above

 

uprightness = שָׂכַל = sakal Blue Letter Bible circumspect; have insight; to give attention to, consider, ponder; to have insight, have comprehension; to cause to consider, give insight, teach; to act circumspectly, act prudently, act wisely; to prosper, have success; wisdom; understanding; cause to consider, give insight, teach; attend to, turn the mind to;  

 

justice = צֶדֶק = ṣeḏeq Blue Letter Bible rightness, righteousness; justness; justness (of weights and measures); righteousness (in government); rectitude; what ought to be

 

fair dealing = מֵישָׁר = mêšār  Blue Letter Bible  evenness, uprightness, equity; level, smoothness, straightness; prosperity or concord; aright; sweetly; sincerity, probity; peace, friendship

 

teaching = נָתַן = nāṯan  Blue Letter Bible to give, bestow, grant; consecrate, devote, dedicate; entrust, give over, deliver up; yield, produce; be (healed); pour; print; teach; to apply the heart to; to constitute, to make a thing like or similar to; cause to receive

 

sound judgement = עָרְמָה = ʿārmâ  Blue Letter Bible  shrewdness, craftiness, prudence; discretion; guile; subtilty; wiliness; wisdom; craftiness

 

simple = פְּתִי = pᵊṯî  Blue Letter Bible   simplicity, naivete; simple, foolish, open-minded; unskillful 

 

knowledge = דַּעַת = daʿaṯ  Blue Letter Bible   knowledge, perception, skill; discernment, understanding, wisdom; cunning; knowing; intelligence

 

reflection = מְזִמָּה = mᵊzimmâ Blue Letter Bible   purpose, discretion, device, plot; sagacity; thought; counsel; power of devising

 

young = נַעַר = naʿar  Blue Letter Bible  a boy, lad, servant, youth, retainer

 

the wise = חָכָם = ḥāḵām  Blue Letter Bible   wise, wise (man); skillful (in technical work); wise (in administration); shrewd, crafty, cunning, wily, subtle; learned, shrewd (class of men); prudent;

wise (ethically and religiously); endued with the ability to judge; prudent toward rulers; blessing to others

 

listen = שָׁמַע = šāmaʿ  Blue Letter Bible   listen to, obey; perceive by ear; to hear with attention or interest, listen to; give heed; consent, agree; yield to; obey, be obedient; hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.); hear and answer

 

learn = לֶקַח = leqaḥ  Blue Letter Bible  learning, teaching, insight; instruction (obj);teaching (thing taught); teaching-power; persuasiveness; something received, i.e. (mentally) instruction (whether on the part of the teacher or hearer); doctrine, learning, fair speech 

 

more = יָסַף = yāsap̄  Blue Letter Bible  to add, increase, do again; augment; get more; be stronger; give more plentifully; do more; join   

 

discernment—see “understanding” above

 

acquire = קָנָה = qānâ  Blue Letter Bible to get, acquire, create, buy, possess; procure, especially by purchase (causatively, sell); by implication to own

 

guidance = תַּחְבֻּלוֹת = taḥbulôṯ Blue Letter Bible  direction, counsel, guidance, good advice, (wise) counsel; steerage (as a management of ropes); art of governing; prudent counsel 

 

perceiving—see “understanding” above

 

the wise—see above

 

fear = יִרְאָה = yir'â  Blue Letter Bible  respect, reverence, piety; revered; holy fear; awesome or terrifying thing; fear, terror

 

beginning = רֵאשִׁית = rē'šîṯ  Blue Letter Bible   first, beginning, best, chief; choicest; he first in place, time, order or rank (specifically, a firstfruit); chief(-est); principal thing; first of its kind

 

knowledge—see above

 

wisdom—see above

 

discipline—see above

 

 

Proverbs 1:8-19, annotated.

This translation is from the New Jerusalem Bible. Other translations are available here.  Information about the original Hebrew meaning of what seem to be the key words is provided immediately below the scriptural text.  

 

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Listen, my child, to your father's instruction, do not reject your mother's teaching: ⁹they will be a crown of grace for your head, a circlet for your neck.

 

¹⁰My child, if sinners try to seduce you, do not go with them. ¹¹If they say, 'Come with us: let us lie in ambush to shed blood; if we plan an ambush for the innocent without provocation, ¹²we can swallow them alive, like Sheol, and whole, like those who sink into oblivion. ¹³We shall find treasures of every sort, we shall fill our houses with plunder; ¹⁴throw in your lot with us: one purse between us all.'

¹⁵My child, do not follow them in their way, keep your steps out of their path ¹⁶for their feet hasten to evil, they are quick to shed blood; ¹⁷for the net is spread in vain if any winged creature can see it. ¹⁸It is for their own blood such people lie in wait, their ambush is against their own selves! ¹⁹Such are the paths of all who seek dishonest gain: which robs of their lives all who take it for their own.

 

***

 

listen = שָׁמַע = šāmaʿ  Blue Letter Bible   listen to, obey; perceive by ear; hear with attention or interest, listen to; give heed; consent, agree; yield to; obey, be obedient; hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.); hear and answer

 

son = בֵּן = bēn  Blue Letter Bible  son, grandson, child, member of a group; male child; young men; children (pl. - male and female); foster son; disciple; one related to a time, place, emotion, condition, status; term of kindliness or endearment; expression of intimate and gracious relation

 

father = אָב = 'āḇ  Blue Letter Bible  father of an individual; God as father of his people; head or founder of a household, group, family, or clan; ancestor; originator or patron of a class, profession, or art; producer, generator (fig.); author; generator; figure of benevolence and protection (fig.);bringer up, nourisher; master; teacher;  term of respect and honour; ruler or chief (spec.); principal 

 

instruction = מוּסָר = muwcar  Blue Letter Bible  discipline, chastening, correction; reproof, warning or instruction; doctrine, instruction, rebuke; admonition; restraint

 

reject = נָטַשׁ = nāṭaš  Blue Letter Bible   leave, permit, forsake, cast off or away, reject; send away; suffer; join, disperse; spread out or abroad, be loosed; cease, abandon, quit; hang loose, cast down; make a raid; lie fallow; let fall, forgo; draw; smite; thrust off; battle; remit

 

mother = אֵם = 'ēm  Blue Letter Bible  mother; point of departure or division; the bond of the family; intimate relationship

 

teaching = תּוֹרָה = tôrâ  Blue Letter Bible  law; instruction, direction (human or divine); body of prophetic teaching; instruction in Messianic age; body of legal directives; custom, manner; the Deuteronomic or Mosaic Law; precept; statute; doctrine

 

crown = לִוְיָה = livyâ  Blue Letter Bible  wreath; garland; resulting from joining and bending  

 

grace = חֵן = ḥēn  Blue Letter Bible  favour, good will; grace; charm; acceptance; elegance, beauty; supplication, prayer

 

head = רֹאשׁ = rō'š  Blue Letter Bible  head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning; top, tip; choicest, best; excellent; principal; highest, supreme

 

circlet = עֲנָק = ʿănāq  Blue Letter Bible  necklace, neck-pendant; collar 

 

neck = גַּרְגְּרוֹת = gargᵊrôṯ  Blue Letter Bible  neck, throat

 

 

Proverbs 1:20-33, annotated.

This translation is from the New Jerusalem Bible. Other translations are available here.   Information about the original Hebrew meaning of what seem to be the key words is provided immediately below the scriptural text.  

 

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Wisdom calls aloud in the streets, she raises her voice in the public squares; ²¹she calls out at the street corners, she delivers her message at the city gates.

 

²²'You simple people, how much longer will you cling to your simple ways? How much longer will mockers revel in their mocking and fools go on hating knowledge?

 

²³Pay attention to my warning. To you I will pour out my heart and tell you what I have to say.

 

²⁴Since I have called and you have refused me, since I have beckoned and no one has taken notice, ²⁵since you have ignored all my advice and rejected all my warnings, ²⁶I, for my part, shall laugh at your distress, I shall jeer when terror befalls you,²⁷when terror befalls you, like a storm, when your distress arrives, like a whirlwind, when ordeal and anguish bear down on you. ²⁸Then they will call me, but I shall not answer, they will look eagerly for me and will not find me. ²⁹They have hated knowledge, they have not chosen the fear of Yahweh, ³⁰they have taken no notice of my advice, they have spurned all my warnings: ³¹so they will have to eat the fruits of their own ways of life, and choke themselves with their own scheming.³²For the errors of the simple lead to their death, the complacency of fools works their own ruin; ³³but whoever listens to me may live secure, will have quiet, fearing no mischance.'

 

***

calls aloud = רָנַן = ranan  Blue Letter Bible  to overcome; to cry out; shout for joy, give a ringing cry; triumph, emit a tremulous sound 

 

street = חוּץ = ḥûṣ Blue Letter Bible   outside, outward, street; abroad, field, forth, highway; without

 

raises = נָתַן = nāṯan  Blue Letter Bible to give, bestow, grant; consecrate, devote, dedicate; entrust, give over, deliver up; yield, produce; be (healed); pour; print; teach; to apply the heart to; to constitute, to make a thing like or similar to; cause to receive

 

voice = קוֹל = qôl  Blue Letter Bible  proclaim; command, entreat; claim; sing out; thundering; with a loud voice; voice, sound, noise;  to call aloud; a voice or sound; bleating, crackling, lowing, neighing, stamping of feet; noise of inanimate objects; lightness, frivolity

 

squares = רְחֹב = rᵊḥōḇ  Blue Letter Bible  broad or open place or plaza; avenue or area; forum 

 

calls = קָרָא = qārā'  Blue Letter Bible to call, cry, utter a loud sound; proclaim; read aloud, read (to oneself); the idea of accosting a person met; address by name; call; name, give name to; call upon or to

 

corner = רֹאשׁ = rō'š  Blue Letter Bible  head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning; top, tip; choicest, best; excellent; principal; highest, supreme

 

delivers = אָמַר = 'āmar  Blue Letter Bible  certify; declare; command, promise, to intend; to avow, to avouch; bear forth, bring to light; to speak, utter; say in one's heart, think 

 

message = אֵמֶר = 'ēmer  Blue Letter Bible  utterance, speech, word, saying, promise; command, mandate; something said; appointed unto him; saying, speech, word 

 

gates = שַׁעַר = šaʿar Blue Letter Bible  gate (of entrance); marketplace, public meeting place; an opening, i.e. door or gate; heaven

 

simple = פְּתִי = pᵊṯî  Blue Letter Bible   simplicity, naivete; simple, foolish, open-minded; unskillful 

 

cling = אָהַב = 'ahab  Blue Letter Bible  human love for another, includes family, and sexual; act of being a friend; to have affection for (sexually or otherwise); desire, breathe after; delight; to be verdant, to germinate

 

simple ways = פְּתִי = pᵊṯî  Blue Letter Bible simplicity, naivete; foolish; silly, easily entices, misled, persuaded 

 

scoffers = לוּץ = lûṣ  Blue Letter Bible  to scorn, make mouths at, talk arrogantly; boast; mock, deride; to be inflated, haughty; scoff; make mouths at; speak barbarously; act impudently; incapable of or rejecting discipline, correction, instruction  

 

revel = חָמַד = ḥāmaḏ  Blue Letter Bible  desire, covet, take pleasure in, delight in; covet, delectable thing; lust; find precious; praise, eulogize, approve of; inordinate, ungoverned, selfish desire; idolatrous tendency

scoffing = לָצוֹן = lāṣôn  Blue Letter Bible  scorning; derision; mocking; bragging 

fools = כְּסִיל = kᵊsîl  Blue Letter Bible  fool, stupid fellow, dullard, simpleton, arrogant one

hate = שָׂנֵא = śānē'  Blue Letter Bible  to hate, be hateful; enemy, foe; be odious

 

knowledge = דַּעַת = daʿaṯ  Blue Letter Bible   knowledge, perception, skill; discernment, understanding, wisdom; cunning; knowing; intelligence

 

pay attention = שׁוּב = shuwb Blue Letter Bible  restore, refresh, repair; to return, turn back; to bring back, allow to return, put back, draw back, give back, restore, relinquish; to bring back to mind; to turn one’s self; feed; lodge; rejoice; convert; fetch home again; recover; relieve; rescue; renew; be brought back; give back 

 

warning = תּוֹכֵחָה = towkechah  Blue Letter Bible  rebuke, correction, reproof, punishment, chastisement; argument, impeachment; refutation; chiding; arguing down, contradicting

 

pour out = נָבַע = nāḇaʿ Blue Letter Bible  flow, pour out, pour, gush forth, spring, bubble up, ferment; emit; send forth, utter (abundantly); publish, tell; emphatic expression

 

heart = רוּחַ = rûaḥ  Blue Letter Bible, mind, spirit; animation, vivacity, vigour; that which breathes quickly in animation or agitation; unaccountable or uncontrollable impulse; courage; desire; seat or organ of mental acts; the rational mind; intellect; seat of moral character; energy and executive and administrative power; energy of life; wind, breath; breath of air in motion; vital principle; endowing men with various gifts

 

tell you =יָדַע= yāḏaʿ  Blue Letter Bible  to perceive and see, find out and discern; to discriminate, distinguish; to know by experience; to recognize; be acquainted with; to know (a person carnally); to know how, be skillful in; to have knowledge, be wise;  to be made known, be or become known, be revealed; to be instructed; privy to; seeing; observe with the eyes; be aware of; to get to know, discover; to turn the mind to anything, to care about, to see about; recognize, admit, acknowledge, confess; discover

 

say = דָּבָר = dāḇār  Blue Letter Bible  speech, word, speaking, thing; saying, utterance, discourse; confer; advice, counsel; message, report, tidings; tidings; thought; promise; precept, edict; business, occupation, acts, matter, case, something, manner (by extension)

 

called—see “calls” above

 

beckoned= נָטָה = natah Blue Letter Bible to stretch out, extend, spread out, pitch, turn, pervert, incline, bend, bow; to turn aside, incline, decline, bend down; to hold out, extend; to turn, incline, influence; outstretched; wrest, cause to yield; spread oneself; seduce

 

taken notice = קָשַׁב = qashab. Blue Letter Bible to hear, be attentive, heed, incline (of ears), attend (of ears), hearken, pay attention, listen; give attention; to prick up the ears; regard

 

advice = עֵצָה = ʿēṣâ  Blue Letter Bible advice; plan; prudence, wisdom; sagacity, consultation

 

warnings—see “warning” above

 

knowledge—see above

 

chosen = בָּחַר = bāḥar Blue Letter Bible to choose, elect, decide for; join; to prove, try, examine; approve, select; love, delight in

 

fear = יִרְאָה = yir'â  Blue Letter Bible  respect, reverence, piety; revered; holy fear; awesome or terrifying thing; fear, terror

 

notice = אָבָה = 'āḇâ  Blue Letter Bible   be willing; consent; yield to; accept; desire, long for; breathe after; be acquiescent; rest content; inclined; prone to; obey

 

advice—see above 

 

warnings—see above

 

scheming = מוֹעֵצָה = môʿēṣâ  Blue Letter Bible  counsel, plan, principal, device

 

errors = מְשׁוּבָה = mᵊšûḇâ  Blue Letter Bible  turning away, turning back; apostasy; backsliding

 

simple—see above

 

complacency = שַׁלְוָה = šalvâ  Blue Letter Bible  quietness, ease, prosperity; security; abundance; careless security; unawareness; impiety

 

fools—see above

 

listens = שָׁמַע = šāmaʿ  Blue Letter Bible   listen to, obey; perceive by ear; hear with attention or interest, listen to; give heed; consent, agree; yield to; obey, be obedient; hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.); hear and answer