Amsal 3:1
Konteks3:1 My child, 2 do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep 3 my commandments,
Amsal 3:3
Konteks3:3 Do not let truth and mercy 4 leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart. 5
Amsal 4:20-23
Konteks4:20 My child, pay attention to my words;
listen attentively 6 to my sayings.
4:21 Do not let them depart 7 from your sight,
guard 8 them within your heart; 9
4:22 for they are life to those who find them
and healing to one’s entire body. 10
4:23 Guard your heart with all vigilance, 11
for from it are the sources 12 of life.
[3:1] 1 sn The chapter begins with an introductory exhortation (1-4), followed by an admonition to be faithful to the
[3:1] 2 tn Heb “my son” (likewise in vv. 11, 21).
[3:1] 3 tn The verb יִצֹּר (yitsor) is a Qal jussive and the noun לִבֶּךָ (libbekha, “your heart”) functions as the subject: “let your heart keep my commandments.”
[3:3] 4 tn The two words חֶסֶד וֶאֶמֶת (khesed ve’emet, “mercy and truth”) form a nominal hendiadys, the second word becoming an adjective: “faithful covenant love” or “loyal [covenant] love and faithfulness.”
[3:3] 5 sn This involves two implied comparisons (hypocatastasis). One is a comparison of living out the duties and responsibilities taught with binding a chain around the neck, and the other is a comparison of the inward appropriation of the teachings with writing them on a tablet. So the teachings are not only to become the lifestyle of the disciple but his very nature.
[4:20] 6 tn Heb “incline your ear.” The verb הַט (hat) is the Hiphil imperative from נָטָה (natah, Hiphil: “to turn to; to incline”). The idiom “to incline the ear” gives the picture of “lean over and listen closely.”
[4:20] sn Commentators note the use of the body in this section: ear (v. 20), eyes (v. 21), flesh (v. 22), heart (v. 23), lips (v. 24), eyes (v. 25), feet (v. 26), and hands and feet (v. 27). Each is a synecdoche of part representing the whole; the total accumulation signifies the complete person in the process.
[4:21] 7 tn The Hiphil form יַלִּיזוּ (yallizu) follows the Aramaic with gemination. The verb means “to turn aside; to depart” (intransitive Hiphil or inner causative).
[4:21] 8 tn Or “keep” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV and many others).
[4:21] 9 sn The words “eyes” and “heart” are metonymies of subject representing the faculties of each. Cf. CEV “think about it all.”
[4:22] 10 tn Heb “to all of his flesh.”
[4:23] 11 tn Heb “more than all guarding.” This idiom means “with all vigilance.” The construction uses the preposition מִן (min) to express “above; beyond,” the word “all” and the noun “prison; guard; act of guarding.” The latter is the use here (BDB 1038 s.v. מִשְׁמָר).
[4:23] 12 sn The word תּוֹצְאוֹת (tots’ot, from יָצָא, yatsa’) means “outgoings; extremities; sources.” It is used here for starting points, like a fountainhead, and so the translation “sources” works well.