Proverbs 15:5-7

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 15:5 tn Heb “is prudent” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NCV, NLT “is wise.” Anyone who accepts correction or rebuke will become prudent in life.
2. Proverbs 15:6 sn The Hebrew noun חֹסֶן (khosen) means “wealth; treasure.” Prosperity is the reward for righteousness. This is true only in so far as a proverb can be carried in its application, allowing for exceptions. The Greek text for this verse has no reference for wealth, but talks about amassing righteousness.
3. Proverbs 15:6 tn Heb “being ruined.” The Niphal participle of עָכַר (ʿakhar; “to disturb, trouble, ruin”) may be understood substantivally, meaning “disturbance, calamity” (BDB 747 s.v. עָכַר) or a “thing troubled,” thus perhaps “[it] is ruined/ruinous.” Or it may be viewed verbally, “will be ruined” (HALOT 824 s.v. עכר nif). The LXX translates “will be ruined.”
4. Proverbs 15:7 tc The verb of the first colon, יְזָרוּ (y^ezaru, “they scatter”) is difficult because it does not fit the second very well—a heart does not “scatter” or “spread” knowledge. Symmachus’ Greek translation uses φυλάσσω (phulassō, “to guard, keep”) suggesting his text read יִצְּרוּ (yits^eru) from נָצַר (natsar, “to guard, keep watch, comply with”). The LXX uses a form of δέω (deō, “to bind”). Although binding (often being bound as a prisoner) might be related to guarding, δέω does not otherwise represent נָצַר in the LXX. Still the editors of BHS and C. H. Toy (Proverbs [ICC], 305) suggest reading יִצְּרוּ (yits^eru, “they guard”).
5. Proverbs 15:7 tn The Hebrew לֹא־כֵן (loʾ khen) could be “not so” (HALOT 482 s.v. II כֵּן) or “not right, incorrect, wrong” (HALOT 482 s.v. I כֵּן), which is supported by the LXX: “hearts of fools are unstable.” If לֵב (lev, “heart, mind”) is understood to represent thinking, then, accepting the emendation in the first line, the proverb may say, “The lips of the wise preserve knowledge, but the thoughts of fools are incorrect.”sn The phrase “the heart of fools” emphasizes that fools do not comprehend knowledge. Cf. NCV “there is no knowledge in the thoughts of fools.”