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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Prov C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31
Prov 4 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27
OET (OET-LV) listen_to Oh_children the_correction_of a_father and_be_attentive to_know understanding.
OET (OET-RV) My children, listen to your father’s teachings.
⇔ ≈ Pay attention so you’ll learn well,
This lesson begins with an introduction (4:1–4a) that exhorts the listeners to pay attention to their father’s words. It is followed by the main part of the lesson (4:4b–9) about the benefits of acquiring wisdom. This main part is unusual, because it quotes the words that the speaker’s father taught him when he was a boy.
Some other headings for this section are:
A Father’s Wise Advice (NLT)
The Benefits of Wisdom (GNT)
Wisdom Is Important (NCV)
Notice the parallelism. The first two commands are similar in meaning. The phrase “gain understanding” gives the purpose or result of these commands.
1a Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
1b pay attention and gain understanding.
(combined/reordered)
¶ My sons, listen carefully as I, your father, advise you(plur), so that your ability to understand the meaning of ideas will increase.
¶ My children, listen to my advice and obey it. If you do this, you will be able to understand things.
Listen…pay attention: These parallel commands have almost the same meaning. The Hebrew word that the BSB translates here as pay attention means to listen carefully. It implies that the person who listens will heed or obey what he hears. Different forms of this word also occur in 1:24b and 2:2a.
Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
¶ My sons, listen to the advice that I, your(plur) father/teacher, give you.
¶ My children, I am your father. Listen to what I teach you.
Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction: This command is very similar to 1:8a. The command in 1:8a has “my son” (singular) and “your father’s instruction.”
my sons: This is the first lesson that is addressed to plural sons. Notice that the preceding and following lessons are addressed to a singular “son.” (See 5:7–8 and 7:24a–b for other instances where plural sons occurs in a similar context.)
Most scholars think that the change from singular to plural does not imply an actual change in the audience. It may be the author’s way to remind us that when he instructs his “son,” he is actually instructing all of his readers.See Fox (pages 172, 194) and Murphy (page 27).
If a change from singular to plural will confuse your readers, some translation options are:
Use singular forms throughout this chapter, as the CEV has done. If you follow this option, you may want to add a footnote that says:
In Hebrew, it says, “my sons.” This phrase probably refers to the same person(s) as “my son” in 3:1, 3:11, 3:21, 4:10, and 4:20. When the writer speaks like a father who is advising his son, he is also advising all who read the book of Proverbs.
Use the plural, as the BSB has done, and add an explanation in a footnote. A suggested footnote is:
In Hebrew, the writer used the words “my son” in chapter 3 and in the rest of chapter 4. Here in 4:1, he used the words “my sons.” Some scholars think that he did this to remind us that his “son” represents all who read the book of Proverbs.
a father’s instruction: The speaker himself is clearly the father who is referred to here. See the notes on 1:8a–b and 1:8a. In some languages, it may be necessary to use a first person pronoun to make explicit that the father is the one who is speaking. For example:
My children, listen to me. Listen to your father’s instruction. (NLT96)
My child, listen closely to my teachings (CEV)
instruction: The word musar, which the BSB translates here as instruction, refers to moral teaching or advice (see the note on 1:2a). See discipline in the Glossary.
pay attention and gain understanding.
Pay close attention so that you(plur) will gain insight.
Heed/Obey what I say, and then your understanding will increase.
and gain understanding: The phrase that the BSB translates as and gain understanding is literally “to know understanding.” It may introduce either the purpose or the result of the preceding commands.
Some ways to introduce this phrase as a purpose are:
in order to gain understanding (GW)
so you will understand (NCV)
Some ways to introduce this phrase as a result are:
and then you will gain understanding
If you do this, you will gain understanding.
You may introduce this phrase as a purpose or a result in your language. Both fit the context well.
understanding: The Hebrew word binah, which the BSB translates here as understanding, refers to the ability to interpret and comprehend concepts, to draw conclusions, and to understand the relationship between things. Other ways to translate this word are:
discernment (NJPS)
insight (RSV)
See understanding (insight) in the Glossary.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
שִׁמְע֣וּ
listen
See how you translated Hear in [1:8](../01/08.md).
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
בָ֭נִים
children
Although the term sons is masculine, Solomon is using the word in a generic sense that could refer to both male and female children. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a phrase that makes this clear. Alternate translation: “young people”
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
מ֣וּסַר & בִּינָֽה
instruction_of & understanding
See how you translated the abstract nouns instruction and understanding in [1:2](../01/02.md).
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / 123person
אָ֑ב
father's
Here Solomon is speaking about himself in the third person. If this would not be natural in your language, you could use the first person form. Alternate translation: “me, your father”
4:1 Discourses in chs 1–9 often begin with the call to listen (cp. 1:8, 23; 2:1; 4:20-21; 5:1-2; 6:20-23; 7:1-3).
• when your father corrects you: The children have reason to listen, because they have made mistakes.
OET (OET-LV) listen_to Oh_children the_correction_of a_father and_be_attentive to_know understanding.
OET (OET-RV) My children, listen to your father’s teachings.
⇔ ≈ Pay attention so you’ll learn well,
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.