Amsal 9:3-5

9:3 She has sent out her female servants;

she calls out on the highest places ¹  of the city.

9:4 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,”

she says ²  to those ³  who lack understanding. ⁴ 

9:5 “Come, eat ⁵  some of my food,

and drink some of the wine I have mixed. ⁶ 

[9:3]  ¹ tn The text uses two synonymous terms in construct to express the superlative degree.

[9:4]  ² tn Heb “lacking of heart she says to him.” The pronominal suffix is a resumptive pronoun, meaning, “she says to the lacking of heart.”

[9:4]  ³ tn Heb “him.”

[9:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “heart”; cf. NIV “to those who lack judgment.”

[9:5]  ⁵ tn The construction features a cognate accusative (verb and noun from same root). The preposition בּ (bet) has the partitive use “some” (GKC 380 §119.m).

[9:5]  ⁶ tn The final verb actually stands in a relative clause although the relative pronoun is not present; it modifies “wine.”

[9:5]  sn The expressions “eat” and “drink” carry the implied comparison forward; they mean that the simple are to appropriate the teachings of wisdom.