Amsal 10:32

10:32 The lips of the righteous know ¹  what is pleasing, ² 

but the speech ³  of the wicked is perverse.

Amsal 11:9

11:9 With his speech ⁴  the godless person ⁵  destroys ⁶  his neighbor,

but by knowledge ⁷  the righteous will be delivered.

Amsal 14:8

14:8 The wisdom of the shrewd person ⁸  is to discern ⁹  his way,

but the folly of fools is deception. ¹⁰ 

Amsal 19:27

19:27 If you stop listening to ¹¹  instruction, my child,

you will stray ¹²  from the words of knowledge.

[10:32]  ¹ sn The verb “know” applied to “lips” is unusual. “Lips” is a metonymy for what the righteous say; and their words “know” (a personification) what is pleasing, i.e., they are acquainted with.

[10:32]  ² sn The righteous say what is pleasing, acceptable, or delightful; but the wicked say perverse and destructive things.

[10:32]  ³ tn Heb “lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for what is said.

[11:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “with his mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

[11:9]  ⁵ sn The Hebrew word originally meant “impious, godless, polluted, profane.” It later developed the idea of a “hypocrite” (Dan 11:32), one who conceals his evil under the appearance of godliness or kindness. This one is a false flatterer.

[11:9]  ⁶ sn The verb שָׁחַת (shakhat) means “to destroy; to ruin” (e.g., the destruction of Sodom in Gen 13:10). The imperfect tense is probably not an habitual imperfect (because the second colon shows exceptions), but probably a progressive imperfect (“this goes on”) or potential imperfect (“they can do this”).

[11:9]  ⁷ sn The antithetical proverb states that a righteous person can escape devastating slander through knowledge. The righteous will have sufficient knowledge and perception to see through the hypocrisy and avoid its effect.

[14:8]  ⁸ tn Or “the prudent [person]” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).

[14:8]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct denotes purpose. Those who are shrewd will use it to give careful consideration to all their ways.

[14:8]  ¹⁰ tn The word means “deception,” but some suggest “self-deception” here (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 466; and D. W. Thomas, “Textual and Philological Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 286); cf. NLT “fools deceive themselves.” The parallelism would favor this, but there is little support for it. The word usually means “craft practiced on others.” If the line is saying the fool is deceitful, there is only a loose antithesis between the cola.

[19:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Stop listening…!” The infinitive construct לִשְׁמֹעַ (lishmoa’) functions as the direct object of the imperative: “stop heeding [or, listening to].” Of course in this proverb which shows the consequences of doing so, this is irony. The sage is instructing not to stop. The conditional protasis construction does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.

[19:27]  ¹² tn The second line has an infinitive construct לִשְׁגוֹת (lishgot), meaning “to stray; to go astray; to err.” It indicates the result of the instruction – stop listening, and as a result you will go astray. The LXX took it differently: “A son who ceases to attend to discipline is likely to stray from words of knowledge.” RSV sees the final clause as the purpose of the instructions to be avoided: “do not listen to instructions to err.”