Amsal 5:12-13

5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!

My heart spurned reproof!

5:13 For ¹  I did not obey my teachers ² 

and I did not heed ³  my instructors. ⁴ 

Amsal 9:7-8

9:7 Whoever corrects ⁵  a mocker is asking for ⁶  insult; ⁷ 

whoever reproves a wicked person receives ⁸  abuse.

9:8 Do not reprove ⁹  a mocker or ¹⁰  he will hate you;

reprove a wise person and he will love you.

[5:13]  ¹ tn The vav that introduces this clause functions in an explanatory sense.

[5:13]  ² tn The Hebrew term מוֹרַי (moray) is the nominal form based on the Hiphil plural participle with a suffix, from the root יָרָה (yarah). The verb is “to teach,” the common noun is “instruction, law [torah],” and this participle form is teacher (“my teachers”).

[5:13]  ³ sn The idioms are vivid: This expression is “incline the ear”; earlier in the first line is “listen to the voice,” meaning “obey.” Such detailed description emphasizes the importance of the material.

[5:13]  ⁴ tn The form is the Piel plural participle of לָמַד (lamad) used substantivally.

[9:7]  ⁵ tn The active participle יֹסֵר (yoser) describes one who tries to correct by means of instruction and discipline; it is paralleled by the Hiphil participle which refers to someone who rebukes or reproves another. Anyone trying this on these types of people would be inviting trouble.

[9:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “receives for himself.”

[9:7]  ⁷ tn The word means “dishonor” or “disgrace.” It is paralleled with מוּמוֹ (mumo), translated “abuse.” The latter term means “blemish,” although some would emend the text to read “reproach.” The MT is figurative but not impossible to interpret: Whoever tries to rebuke a wicked person will receive only insults and perhaps physical attack.

[9:7]  ⁸ tn The verb “receives” is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[9:8]  ⁹ tn In view of the expected response for reproof, the text now uses a negated jussive to advise against the attempt. This is paralleled antithetically by the imperative in the second colon. This imperative is in an understood conditional clause: “if you reprove a wise person.”

[9:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lest he hate you.” The particle פֶּן (pen, “lest”) expresses fear or precaution (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 79, §476). The antonyms “love” and “hate” suggest that the latter means “reject” and the former means “choosing and embracing.”