Amsal 5:2

5:2 in order to safeguard ¹  discretion, ² 

and that your lips may guard knowledge.

Amsal 5:17

5:17 Let them be for yourself ³  alone,

and not for strangers with you. ⁴ 

Amsal 6:2

6:2 if ⁵  you have been ensnared ⁶  by the words you have uttered, ⁷ 

and have been caught by the words you have spoken,

Amsal 9:6

9:6 Abandon your foolish ways ⁸  so that you may live, ⁹ 

and proceed ¹⁰  in the way of understanding.”

Amsal 23:4

23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich;

be wise enough to restrain yourself. ¹¹ 

Amsal 24:27

24:27 Establish your work outside and get your fields ready;

afterward build ¹²  your house. ¹³ 

Amsal 27:19

27:19 As in water the face is reflected as a face, ¹⁴ 

so a person’s heart ¹⁵  reflects the person.

[5:2]  ¹ tn Heb “keep, protect, guard.”

[5:2]  ² sn This “discretion” is the same word in 1:4; it is wise, prudential consideration, careful planning, or the ability to devise plans with a view to the best way to carry them out. If that ability is retained then temptations to digress will not interfere.

[5:17]  ³ tn The ל (lamed) preposition denotes possession: “for you” = “yours.” The term לְבַדֶּךָ (lÿvadekha) is appositional, underscoring the possession as exclusive.

[5:17]  ⁴ sn The point is that what is private is not to be shared with strangers; it belongs in the home and in the marriage. The water from that cistern is not to be channeled to strangers or to the public.

[6:2]  ⁵ tn The term “if” does not appear in this line but is implied by the parallelism. It is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[6:2]  ⁶ tn The verb יָקַשׁ (yaqash) means “to lay a bait; to lure; to lay snares.” In the Niphal it means “to be caught by bait; to be ensnared” – here in a business entanglement.

[6:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “by the words of your mouth.” The same expression occurs at the end of the following line (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). Many English versions vary the wording slightly, presumably for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[9:6]  ⁸ tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[9:6]  ⁹ tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.

[9:6]  ¹⁰ tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).

[23:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from your understanding cease.” In the context this means that the person should have enough understanding to stop wearing himself out trying to be rich (cf. NRSV “be wise enough to desist”).

[24:27]  ¹² tn The perfect tense with vav following the imperatives takes on the force of an imperative here.

[24:27]  ¹³ sn If the term “house” is understood literally, the proverb would mean that one should be financially secure before building a house (cf. NLT). If “house” is figurative for household (metonymy of subject: children or family), the proverb would mean that one should have financial security and provision before starting a family. Some English versions suggest the latter meaning by using the word “home” for “house” (e.g., TEV, CEV).

[27:19]  ¹⁴ tn The verse is somewhat cryptic and so has prompted many readings. The first line in the MT has “As water the face to the face.” The simplest and most probable interpretation is that clear water gives a reflection of the face (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). One creative but unconvincing suggestion is that of L. Kopf, who suggests the idea is “water of face” (a construct) and that it means shame or modesty, i.e., a face is not really human without shame, and a man without a heart is not human (“Arabische Etymologien und Parallelen zum Bibelwörterbuch,” VT 9 [1959]: 260-61).

[27:19]  ¹⁵ tn The second line has “so the heart of a man to a man” (cf. KJV, ASV). The present translation (along with many English versions) supplies “reflects” as a verb in the second line to emphasize the parallelism.

[27:19]  sn In the parallelism this statement means that a person’s heart is the true reflection of that person. It is in looking at the heart, the will, the choices, the loves, the decisions, the attitudes, that people come to self-awareness.