PROV 24:32 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 24:23–34: Here are more sayings of wise people

The first verse (24:23a) indicates that this section is an additional list of sayings of wise people. This list has been added to the preceding section (22:17–24:22). The sayings range from one to five verses. Each saying will be marked as a separate paragraph in the Notes. As in the English versions, the sayings in this section will not be numbered.

Three of the sayings (24:23b–25, 24:26, and 24:30–34) are general principles. They are not addressed specifically to the readers. See the notes on 10:2 for ways to translate this kind of proverb.

In the other two sayings (24:27 and 24:28–29), the author uses second person commands and pronouns (you^(sing)). Unlike the preceding section, he does not use the phrase “my son” explicitly in these commands.

Some other headings for this section are:

More Wise Sayings (GNT)

More Sayings of the Wise (ESV)

These Are Further Words of Wise People

Paragraph 24:30–34

In this saying, the author first tells a story about what he observed when he passed by the property of a lazy person (24:30–31). He then tells the readers that he learned a lesson from what he saw (24:32). He summarizes the lesson by quoting a well-known proverb. The proverb teaches that laziness results in poverty (24:33–34).

Proverbs 6:6–11 also gives advice to lazy people. The concluding proverb (6:10–11) is identical to 24:33–34.

24:32

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^32a I observed and took it to heart;

^32b I looked and received instruction:

In Hebrew, these lines are more literally:

^32aand I saw, I put my heart,

^32b I saw, I received instruction.

In Hebrew, the parts in bold print are actually different verbs, but they have the same meaning. The underlined parts are closely related results of what the author saw.

24:32a–b

(combined/reordered)

As I thought about what I had seen, I realized something. Here it is:
These things that I saw caused me to think. Here is something true that I learned:

I observed and took it to heart; I looked and received instruction: These two phrases tell how the author responded or reacted to what he saw. The first phrase logically precedes the second phrase.

First the author carefully thought about what he saw. Then he said that he had learned a lesson. He told this lesson in the next two verses. Another way to translate these two lines is:

When I saw this, I gave careful consideration to it; I received instruction from what I saw: (NET)

24:32a

I observed and took it to heart;

I carefully thought about what I saw.

24:32b

I looked and received instruction:

This is the lesson that I learned from my observations:

received instruction: It may be unnatural to use a phrase such as received instruction in contexts where there is no teacher. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

I learned something

This is what I learned

General Comment on 24:32a–b

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

Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: (NLT)

I looked at this, thought about it, and learned a lesson from it: (GNT)

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

וָֽ⁠אֶחֱזֶ֣ה אָ֭נֹכִֽי & רָ֝אִ֗יתִי

and,I_saw I & looked

The writer is leaving out some of the words that in many languages a sentence would need in order to be complete. You could supply these words from the previous two verses if it would be clearer in your language. Alternate translation: “And I myself looked at that field and vineyard … I saw them”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / rpronouns

וָֽ⁠אֶחֱזֶ֣ה אָ֭נֹכִֽי

and,I_saw I

Here, the writer uses the word myself to emphasize the significance of his observations about the lazy person’s land. Use a way that is natural in your language to indicate this significance. Alternate translation: “And I looked with my own eyes”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

אָשִׁ֣ית לִבִּ֑⁠י

I_will_put/place heart_of,my

See how you translated the same use of “set your heart” in [22:17](../22/17.md).

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

לָקַ֥חְתִּי מוּסָֽר

received instruction

See how you translated the same use of instruction in [1:3](../01/03.md).

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

לָקַ֥חְתִּי מוּסָֽר

received instruction

The writer assumes that his readers will understand that what follows in the next two verses is the instruction he refers to here. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: “I received the following instruction” or “I learned the following lesson”

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 24:32

Hebrew word order