Proverbs 4:10-11 New English Translation
10 Listen, my child,[a] and accept my words,
so that[b] the years of your life will be many.[c]
11 I hereby guide you[d] in the way of wisdom
and I lead you in upright paths.[e]
Footnotes
- Proverbs 4:10 tn Heb “my son” (likewise in v. 20).
- Proverbs 4:10 tn Following an imperative, a vav plus imperfect verb can depict purpose or result.
- Proverbs 4:10 tn Heb “and the years of life will be many for you.”
- Proverbs 4:11 tn The form הֹרֵתִיךָ (horetikha) is the Hiphil perfect with a suffix from the root יָרָה (yarah, “to guide”). This and the parallel verb should be taken as instantaneous (or performative) perfects, translated as an English present tense: The sage is now instructing or pointing the way.sn The verb יָרָה (yarah) means “to teach; to instruct; to guide.” This is from the same root as the Hebrew word for “law” (torah). See G. R. Driver, “Hebrew Notes,” VT 1 (1951): 241-50; and J. L. Crenshaw, “The Acquisition of Knowledge in Israelite Wisdom Literature,” WW 7 (1986): 9.
- Proverbs 4:11 tn Heb “in the tracks of uprightness”; cf. NAB “on straightforward paths.” Both the verb and the object of the preposition make use of the idiom—the verb is the Hiphil perfect from דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, related to “road; way”) and the object is “wagon tracks, paths.”
New English Translation (NET)
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