Sunday, February 25, 2024

Proverbs 4:1-13, 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 children, to a father's instruction; pay attention, and learn what understanding is. 2What I am offering you is sound doctrine: do not forsake my teaching.

 

3I too was once a child with a father, in my mother's eyes a tender child, unique. 4This was what he used to teach me, 'Let your heart treasure what I have to say, keep my principles and you will live; 5acquire wisdom, acquire understanding, never forget her, never deviate from my words. 6Do not desert her, she will keep you safe; love her, she will watch over you. 7The first principle of wisdom is: acquire wisdom; at the cost of all you have, acquire understanding! 8Hold her close, and she will make you great; embrace her, and she will be your pride; 9she will provide a graceful garland for your head, bestow a crown of honour on you.'

 

10Listen, my child, take my words to heart, and the years of your life will be multiplied.

11I have educated you in the ways of wisdom, I have guided you along the path of honesty.

12When you walk, your going will be unhindered, if you run, you will not stumble.

13 Hold fast to discipline, never let her go, keep your eyes on her, she is your life.

 

***

 

listen = שָׁמַע = šāmaʿ  Blue Letter Bible   listen to, obey; perceive by ear; hear with attention or interest; give heed; consent, agree; yield to; 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

 

pay attention = 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

 

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

 

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

 

offer = 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 = טוֹב = ṭôḇ  Blue Letter Bible  good, pleasant, agreeable; excellent; rich, valuable in estimation; appropriate, becoming; happy, prosperous, kind, benign; right (ethical); welfare, prosperity, happiness; good things (collective)

good, benefit; moral good; blessing of good things

 

doctrine = 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 

 

forsake = עָזַב = ʿāzaḇ  Blue Letter Bible  to leave, loose, forsake; depart from, leave behind, leave, let alone;  abandon, forsake, neglect, apostatize; let loose, set free, let go, free; to be deserted; fail; relinquish, leave destitute; to loosen bandto restore, repair; fortify; help 

 

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

 

 

 

teach = יָרָה = yarah Blue Letter Bible point out; show; direct, teach, instruct; throw, shoot, cast, pour; to flow as water (i.e. to rain); point out (as if by aiming the finger); direct, inform, instruct, lay, shew; lay foundations; to sprinkle, water; to send out the hand

AND

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

 

heart= לֵב = lēḇ Blue Letter Bible inner man, mind, will, understanding; midst; soul; mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory; inclination, resolution, determination (of will); conscience; seat of appetites, emotions, passions, courage; feelings, the will and even the intellect; the centre of anything

 

treasure = תָּמַךְ = tāmaḵ Blue Letter Bible  grasp, hold, support, attain, lay hold of; hold up, support; keep; take hold of each other; maintain, retain, stay (up); hold together, adhere

 

keep = שָׁמַר = šāmar  Blue Letter Bible  keep, guard, observe, give heed; retain, treasure up (in memory); preserve; attend to

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

forget = שָׁכַח = šāḵaḥ  Blue Letter Bible  forget, ignore; cease to care; wither; be oblivious of

 

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

 

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

 

desert = עָזַב = ʿāzaḇ  Blue Letter Bible  to leave, loose, forsake; depart from, leave behind, leave, let alone;  abandon, forsake, neglect, apostatize; let loose, set free, let go, free; to be deserted; fail; relinquish, leave destitute; to loosen bandto restore, repair; fortify; help 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

all = כֹּל = kol  Blue Letter Bible  the whole; any, each, every, anything; totality, everything, of all kinds, every sort

 

acquire = קִנְיָן = qinyān  Blue Letter Bible  thing acquired, thing acquired by purchase; acquisition, possession, purchased property; wealth; substance; creatures; substance 

 

 

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

 

Hold her close = סָלַל = sālal  Blue Letter Bible  to lift up, cast up; exalt; esteem highly, prize; to mound up (especially a turnpike); extol; gather into a heap; embank

 

embrace = חָבַק = ḥāḇaq  Blue Letter Bible  embrace, clasp 

 

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

 

child 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

 

take = 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)

 

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

 

educated = יָרָה = yarah Blue Letter Bible point out; show; direct, teach, instruct; throw, shoot, cast, pour; to flow as water (i.e. to rain); point out (as if by aiming the finger); direct, inform, instruct, lay, shew; lay foundations; to sprinkle, water; to send out the hand

 

way דֶּרֶךְ = dereḵ  Blue Letter Bible  way, road, distance, journey, manner; path; mode; habit, way; course of life; mode of action

 

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

 

guided = דָּרַךְ = dāraḵ Blue Letter Bible  tread, bend, lead, march; cause to go, lead, march, tread; trample, tread a press or threshing floor

 

paths = מַעְגָּל = maʿgāl  Blue Letter Bible   entrenchment; track; circumvallation; rampart; path, trench, way; wagon-track; rut

honesty = יֹשֶׁר = yōšer Blue Letter Bible  straightness, uprightness; evenness (moral implications); equity, meet, right; what is right, what is due; what ought to be done; just and meet

walk = יָלַךְ = yālaḵ Blue Letter Bible  go, walk, come; lead, bring, lead away, carry, cause to walk; journey; proceed

going = צַעַד = ṣaʿaḏ  Blue Letter Bible  step, pace, stride; course of life; regular step

[]hindered = יָצַר = yāṣar  Blue Letter Bible  bind, be distressed, be in distress, be cramped, be narrow, be scant, be in straits, make narrow, cause distress, besiege; be straitened (in straits), be vexed; grieved

 

run = רוּץ = rûṣ  Blue Letter Bible   run swiftly, dart; bring or move quickly, hurry; rush, bring hastily, cause to hasten

 

stumble = כָּשַׁל = kāšal Blue Letter Bible  stumble, stagger, totter; be tottering, be feeble; bring injury or ruin to, overthrow; bereave; falter; shaking of the knees; cause to fail; be seduced;   

Hold fast = חָזַק = ḥāzaq  Blue Letter Bible  strengthen, prevail, harden, be strong, become strong, be courageous, be firm, grow firm, be resolute; to make strong; to restore to strength, give strength; sustain, encourage; make bold;repair; have or take or keep hold of, retain, hold up, sustain, support; to hold, contain; put forth strength, use one's strength; withstand; hold strongly with; strengthen oneself; causatively strengthen, cure, help, repair, fortify; recovery from illness; courageous, confident; devote oneself to; be urgent, pressing; tie fast, bind

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

 

let [] go = רָפָה = rāp̄â  Blue Letter Bible  sink, relax, sink down, let drop, be disheartened; abandon, refrain, forsake; let alone, be quiet; show oneself slack; abate, cease; cast down; let fall; desist 

 

keep your eyes on = נָצַר = nāṣar Blue Letter Bible  watch over; observe, guard with fidelity; kept close, be blockaded; protect, maintain, obey; preserve 

 

life = חַי = ḥay  Blue Letter Bible  living, alive; green (of vegetation); flowing, fresh (of water); lively, active (of man); reviving (of the springtime); appetite; raw; springing; vigorous; prosperity, welfare; living one, fountain of life; community  

 

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