Amsal 23:24-26

23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; ¹ 

whoever fathers a wise child ²  will have joy in him.

23:25 May your father and your mother have joy;

may she who bore you rejoice. ³ 

23:26 Give me your heart, my son, ⁴ 

and let your eyes observe my ways;

[23:24]  ¹ tc The Qere reading has the imperfect יָגִיל (yagil) with the cognate accusative גִּיל (gil) which intensifies the meaning and the specific future of this verb.

[23:24]  ² tn The term “child” is supplied for the masculine singular adjective here.

[23:25]  ³ tn The form תָגֵל (tagel) is clearly a short form and therefore a jussive (“may she…rejoice”); if this second verb is a jussive, then the parallel יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) should be a jussive also (“may your father and your mother have joy”).

[23:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “my son”; the reference to a “son” is retained in the translation here because in the following lines the advice is to avoid women who are prostitutes.