Proverbs 24:12-14 New English Translation
12 If you say, “But we did not know about this,”
won’t[a] the one who evaluates[b] hearts discern it?
Won’t the one who guards your life realize[c]
and repay each person according to his deeds?[d]
13 Eat honey,[e] my child, for it is good,
and honey from the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.
14 Likewise, know[f] that wisdom is sweet[g] to your soul;
if you have found it,[h] you have a future,[i]
and your hope will not be cut off.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 24:12 tn Heb “Will he not?” The verb is an imperfect stative and so should be understood as future or modal. Likewise the verb in the next line.
- Proverbs 24:12 tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV) meaning “tests” or “evaluates.”
- Proverbs 24:12 tn The imperfect of the stative verb יָדַע (yadaʿ, “to know”) means “will know/come to know,” thus “will learn, find out, realize.”
- Proverbs 24:12 sn The verse completes the saying by affirming that people will be judged responsible for helping those in mortal danger. The verse uses a series of rhetorical questions to affirm that God knows our hearts and we cannot plead ignorance.
- Proverbs 24:13 sn The twenty-sixth saying teaches that one should develop wisdom because it has a profitable future. The saying draws on the image of honey; its health-giving properties make a good analogy to wisdom.
- Proverbs 24:14 tn D. W. Thomas argues for a meaning of “seek” in place of “know” (“Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” JTS 38 [1937]: 400-403).
- Proverbs 24:14 tn The phrase “is sweet” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.
- Proverbs 24:14 tn The term “it” is supplied in the translation.
- Proverbs 24:14 tn Heb “there will be an אַחֲרִית (ʾakharit), which means “end, result, following period.” It suggests a future, which may imply posterity. It is sometimes connected with hope (Jer 29:11: 31:17; Prov 23:18).
New English Translation (NET)
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