PROV 1:24 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:20–33: Wisdom warns people not to reject her advice

In this section, Wisdom is personified as a woman teacher or prophetess who publicly warns people not to reject her advice. After an introduction (1:20–21), Wisdom begins her speech. In her speech, she scolds foolish people for ignoring her teaching (1:22–27). She then describes what will happen to such people (1:28–31). She concludes her speech by contrasting the fate of fools with the happiness of those who obey her (1:32–33).

In the verses that contain Wisdom’s speech, the Notes use a capital letter for Wisdom, except where a quoted version has small letters. The Display provides more than one option. You may use either option in your language, depending on what is appropriate in each context. See the note at Section 8:1–36 for more information about using a capital letter to indicate personification.

Some other headings for this section are:

Wisdom Speaks (NCV)

Warning Against Rejecting Wisdom (NIV)

Wisdom’s invitation to people to listen to her advice

1:24–27

In the four lines of 1:24–25, Wisdom gives four parallel reasons for the consequences in 1:26–27. In versions like the BSB, NIV or the NRSV, these verses form a single long sentence of the following form:

Since/Because you did A and B, and since/because you did C and D, I will do X and Y.

In some languages, the reason-consequence relationship may need to be expressed in shorter sentences. For example, the NCV expresses this relationship as follows:

You did A; you did B. You did C and D. So I will do X and Y.

It is clear from the context that Wisdom’s audience has refused her invitation repeatedly over a long period of time. In some languages, this may need to be made explicit through reduplication of the verbs or in some other way.

1:24

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^24aBecause you refused my call,

^24band no one took my outstretched hand,

1:24a–b

(combined/reordered)

I repeatedly called you^(plur) to come to me. I held out my hand to beckon you. But you rejected me and refused/ignored my invitation to come.
I repeatedly called to you and beckoned to you to come, but you refused.
But you persistently ignored my invitation when I called and gestured for you to come.

my call…my outstretched hand: The meaning of the gesture my outstretched hand is parallel to the words my call in 1:24a. Both parallel parts refer to Wisdom’s invitation for people to come. In some languages, this gesture may not be understood correctly. Some other ways to translate the gesture are:

Translate the gesture and make the meaning explicit. For example:
I reached out my hand to invite you.
Translate the meaning without the gesture. For example:
I have been…inviting you to comeFox (page 100) says that the gesture “signifies threat and intimidation, and that it is a different gesture from “spreading out the hands” in entreaty. According to him, it never implies “to approach” but rather “to smite, punish or threaten.” Cook (page 17) also says that 1:24 refers to the “threats and warnings of wisdom,” but gives no explanation for this interpretation. Delitzsch (page 71) supports the view taken by all versions that the gesture signifies “striving to beckon to the wandering and to bring them near.” Toy (page 25) agrees, saying that the verbs refer to wisdom’s invitations in the past. Scott (page 40) also understands “beckon.” Because of the parallelism with “I called” in line a, it seems better to understand the gesture as one of beckoning or invitation, not of threat. (GNT)

You will need to decide which translation option expresses the meaning most effectively in your language.

1:24a

Because you refused my call,

But because you^(plur) refused to listen when I kept calling you to come,
But when I was calling you, you kept refusing my invitation.

1:24b

and no one took my outstretched hand,

and because you^(plur) did not pay attention when I was stretching out my hand in invitation,
When I was beckoning to you, none of you paid any attention.

hand: In Hebrew, the word hand includes everything from the elbow to the fingertips.

General Comment on 1:24a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel parts of this verse. For example:

You completely ignored me and refused to listen (CEV)

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

יַ֣עַן

because

Because here indicates that what follows in this verse and the next verse is the reason for the result, which is stated in [1:26–27](../01/26.md). Use the most natural way in your language to state a reason. If you divide [1:24–27](../01/24.md) into two sentences, then you could either remove Because here and add a word to express result at the beginning of [1:26](../01/26.md) as in the UST, or you could add the word “because” to each of the clauses of 1:24-25. Alternate translation: “Since”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

קָ֭רָאתִי וַ⁠תְּמָאֵ֑נוּ נָטִ֥יתִי יָ֝דִ֗⁠י וְ⁠אֵ֣ין מַקְשִֽׁיב

called and,you(pl)_refused stretched_out hand_of,my and,there_[was]_not paid_attention

These two clauses mean basically the same thing. The second emphasizes the meaning of the first by repeating the same idea with different words. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could connect the phrases with a word that would show that the second phrase is repeating the first one, not saying something additional. Alternate translation: “I have called and you have refused, yes, I have stretched out my hand and there was no one listening attentively” or “I have called and you have refused, because I have stretched out my hand and there was no one listening attentively”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

וַ⁠תְּמָאֵ֑נוּ

and,you(pl)_refused

Wisdom implies that people refused to listen to what she said. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: “and you have refused to listen to me”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

נָטִ֥יתִי יָ֝דִ֗⁠י

stretched_out hand_of,my

This phrase stretched out my hand is an idiom that refers to beckoning someone or inviting a person to come. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “I stretched out my hand to beckon you” or “I beckoned you”

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.

OET interlinear PROV 1:24

Hebrew word order