Amsal 14:6

14:6 The scorner ¹  seeks wisdom but finds none, ² 

but understanding is easy ³  for a discerning person.

Amsal 16:21

16:21 The one who is wise in heart ⁴  is called ⁵  discerning,

and kind speech ⁶  increases persuasiveness. ⁷ 

Amsal 17:27-28

17:27 The truly wise person ⁸  restrains ⁹  his words,

and the one who stays calm ¹⁰  is discerning.

17:28 Even a fool who remains silent is considered ¹¹  wise,

and the one who holds his tongue is deemed discerning. ¹² 

Amsal 28:11

28:11 A rich person ¹³  is wise in his own eyes, ¹⁴ 

but a discerning poor person can evaluate him properly. ¹⁵ 

[14:6]  ¹ sn The “scorner” (לֵץ, lets) is intellectually arrogant; he lacks any serious interest in knowledge or religion. He pursues wisdom in a superficial way so that he can appear wise. The acquisition of wisdom is conditioned by one’s attitude toward it (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 149).

[14:6]  ² tn Heb “and there is not.”

[14:6]  ³ sn The Niphal of קָלַל (qalal) means “to appear light; to appear trifling; to appear easy.”

[16:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “wise of heart” (so NRSV).

[16:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “to the wise of heart it will be called discerning.” This means that the wise of heart, those who make wise decisions (“heart” being the metonymy), will gain a reputation of being the discerning ones.

[16:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “sweetness of lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause, meaning what is said. It is a genitive of specification. The idea of “sweetness” must be gracious and friendly words. The teaching will be well-received because it is both delightful and persuasive (cf. NIV “pleasant words promote instruction”).

[16:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “teaching” or “receptivity”; KJV “learning”; NIV “instruction.”

[17:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “the one knowing knowledge.” The cognate accusative underscores the meaning of the participle – this is a truly knowledgeable person.

[17:27]  ⁹ sn The participle חוֹשֵׂךְ (khosekh) means “withholds; restrains; refrains; spares; holds in check,” etc. One who has knowledge speaks carefully.

[17:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “cool of spirit.” This genitive of specification describes one who is “calm” (so NCV, TEV, CEV) or “even-tempered” (so NIV, NLT); he is composed.

[17:28]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect tense here denotes possibility: One who holds his tongue [may be considered] discerning.

[17:28]  ¹² tn The Niphal participle is used in the declarative/estimative sense with stative verbs: “to be discerning” (Qal) becomes “to be declared discerning” (Niphal). The proverb is teaching that silence is one evidence of wisdom, and that even a fool can thereby appear wise. D. Kidner says that a fool who takes this advice is no longer a complete fool (Proverbs [TOTC], 127). He does not, of course, become wise – he just hides his folly.

[28:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “a rich man,” although the context does not indicate that this is limited only to males.

[28:11]  ¹⁴ sn The idiom “in his own eyes” means “in his own opinion,” that is, his self conceit. The rich person thinks he is wise because he is rich, that he has made all the right choices.

[28:11]  ¹⁵ tn The form יַחְקְרֶנּוּ (yakhqÿrennu) means “he searches him” (cf. KJV, ASV) or “he examines him”; a potential imperfect nuance fits well here to indicate that a discerning person, even though poor, can search the flaws of the rich and see through the pretension and the false assumptions (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV “sees through him”). Several commentators have connected the word to the Arabic root hqr, which means “despise” (D. W. Thomas, “Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” JTS 38 [1937]: 400-403), but that would be both predictable and flat.