Proverbs 8:32-36 New English Translation
32 “So now, children,[a] listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Listen to my instruction[b] so that you may be wise,[c]
and do not neglect it.
34 Blessed is the one[d] who listens to me,
watching[e] at my doors day by day,
waiting[f] beside my doorway.[g]
35 For the one who finds me has found[h] life
and received[i] favor from the Lord.
36 But the one who misses me[j] brings harm[k] to himself;[l]
all who hate[m] me love death.”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 8:32 tn Heb “sons.”
- Proverbs 8:33 tn Heb “discipline.”
- Proverbs 8:33 tn The construction uses two imperatives joined with the vav (ו); this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is being expressed.
- Proverbs 8:34 tn Heb “the man.”
- Proverbs 8:34 tn The form לִשְׁקֹד (lishqod) is the infinitive construct serving epexegetically in the sentence. It explains how the person will listen to wisdom.
- Proverbs 8:34 tn Heb “keeping” or “guarding.”
- Proverbs 8:34 tn Heb “at the posts of my doors” (so KJV, ASV).
- Proverbs 8:35 tc The Kethib reads the verb as a plural participle: “the one who finds me are finders of life.” The LXX reads a plural subject: “those who find me.” But the Hebrew Qere reads a singular perfect verb. The next verb is a preterite, which commonly follows the perfect but very rarely a participle. The perfect form of a dynamic verb should be translated as past or perfective.
- Proverbs 8:35 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive continues the time frame of the perfect verb that came before it. sn The sage uses these verb forms in contrast with the following verse, which is present tense. The antithetic parallelism contrasts not just the subject (who finds vs. who misses) and the verb (to find vs. to harm) but also the state of the outcome. This person found life and continues in the benefit: “had found life.”
- Proverbs 8:36 tn Heb “the one sinning [against] me.” The verb חָטָא (khataʾ, “to sin, to err”) forms a contrast with “find” in the previous verse, and so has its basic meaning of “failing to find, miss.”
- Proverbs 8:36 tn The Qal active participle functions verbally here. The word stresses both social and physical harm and violence. sn Brings harm. While the previous verse used past time verbs, the sage employs the participle here as an ongoing activity. Whoever tries to live without wisdom is inviting all kinds of disaster into his life.
- Proverbs 8:36 tn Heb “his soul.”
- Proverbs 8:36 tn The basic idea of the verb שָׂנֵא (saneʾ, “to hate”) is that of rejection. Its antonym is also used in the line, “love,” which has the idea of choosing. So not choosing (i.e., hating) wisdom amounts to choosing (i.e., loving) death.
New English Translation (NET)
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