Saturday, February 24, 2024

Proverbs 6:20-35, annotated.

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

 

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Keep your father's precept, my child, do not spurn your mother's teaching.21Bind them ever to your heart, tie them round your neck.22While you are active, they will guide you, when you fall asleep, they will watch over you, when you wake up, they will converse with you.23For the precept is a lamp, the teaching is a light; correction and discipline are the way to life,24preserving you from the woman of bad character, from the wheedling talk of a woman who belongs to another.

 

25Do not covet her beauty in your heart or let her captivate you with the play of her eyes; 26 a prostitute can be bought for a hunk of bread, but a married woman aims to snare a precious life.27 Can a man carry fire inside his shirt without setting his clothes alight? 28Can you walk on red-hot coals without burning your feet? 29Just so, the man who makes love to his neighbor’s wife: no one who touches her will get off unpunished. 30People attach but little blame to a thief who steals only to satisfy his hunger; 31yet even he, if caught, will have to repay sevenfold and hand over all his family resources.

 

32But the adulterer has no sense; he works his own destruction. 33All he will get is blows and contempt, and dishonor never to be blotted out. 34For jealousy inflames the husband who will show no mercy when the day comes for revenge;35he will not consider any compensation; lavish what gifts you may, he will not be placated.

 

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

 

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 

 

precept = מִצְוָה = miṣvâ Blue Letter Bible  commandment; law, ordinance, precept

 

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

 

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

 

bind = קָשַׁר = qāšar  Blue Letter Bible  to bind, tie, bind together, league together, conspire; confine; robust, vigorous

 

ever = תָּמִיד = tamiyd  Blue Letter Bible  continually, continuously; constant (or adverbially, constantly); alway(-s); perpetual

 

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

 

bind = עָנַד = ʿānaḏ  Blue Letter Bible  bind, tie up, bind around or upon; lace fast

 

neck = גַּרְגְּרוֹת = gargrôṯ  Blue Letter Bible  neck, throat

 

active = הָלַךְ = halak  Blue Letter Bible  to go; proceed, move; enter; follow; go along; proceed; to go with, have intercourse with; to go after; pursue; live, manner of life; go on, go forward; traverse; march; flow, be poured out

 

guide = נָחָה = nachah Blue Letter Bible  to lead, guide; by implication, to transport; govern

 

sleep = שָׁכַב = šāḵaḇ  Blue Letter Bible to lie down; lodge; rest, relax; sleep; prostrate; pour out  

 

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

 

wake = קוּץ = qûṣ  Blue Letter Bible  awake, wake up; awaken, arouse, show signs of waking

 

converse = שִׂיחַ = śîaḥ  Blue Letter Bible  put forth, mediate, muse, commune, speak, complain, ponder; talk, sing, speak; meditate, consider, put forth thoughts; converse, utter, declare, pray

 

precept = מִצְוָה = miṣvâ Blue Letter Bible  commandment; law, ordinance, precept

 

lamp = נִיר = nîr  Blue Letter Bible  from a primitive root properly, meaning to glisten; a lamp (i.e. the burner) or light (literally or figuratively); candle, lamp, light; guide

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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  

 

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

 

covet = 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

 

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

 

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