PROV 9:6 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 9:1–18: Wisdom and Folly each urge people to follow them

This section summarizes the main themes of chapters 1–8. It contains parallel appeals by Wisdom (9:1–6) and Folly (9:13–18), both personified as women. Both Wisdom and Folly appeal to the same audience, inviting them to come and eat in their homes. Between these two appeals is a summary of two opposite ways to respond to Wisdom (9:7–12). In the center of this paragraph, 9:10 contains a restatement of the first line of 1:7. These key verses mark chapters 1 and 9 as the beginning and end of the first major division of the book.

Some other headings for this section are:

Invitations of Wisdom and of Folly (NIV)

Wisdom and Foolishness each give a feast

Being Wise or Foolish (NCV)

Paragraph 9:1–6

This paragraph describes the preparations that Wisdom makes for a banquet (9:1–3) and the invitations that she sends out to the guests (9:4–6).

9:6

In this verse, lines 6a and 6c are parallel. Line 6b gives the result or consequence of 6a.

^6a Leave your folly behind,

^6band you will live;

^6c walk in the way of understanding.

9:6a

Leave your folly behind,

Abandon your^(plur) immature/naive behavior
Stop^(plur) being easily deceived,

Leave your folly behind: The verb Leave can also mean “forsake” or “abandon.” There are two ways to interpret the phrase your folly:

It refers to a pattern of behavior and means immaturity. For example:
Lay aside immaturity (NRSV) (BSB, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NJB, NJPS, NCV, GW, NLT, CEV)
It refers to a class of people and means immature people. For example:
Abandon the company of simpletons (REB) (REB, GNT)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with most English versions and the LXX. For the meaning of folly, see the note on “simple” in 1:4a. This word does not refer to a simple lifestyle, as the NIV might imply, but rather to “immaturity” (NRSV) or being naive. Other ways to translate this meaning are:

Stop being gullible (GW)

Stop being easily deceived

In languages that cannot use expressions such as “stop being immature,” you may be able to say:

Forsake the behavior of those who are immature.

9:6a–c

(combined/reordered)

If you^(plur) want to live a long life, then stop being easily deceived and start becoming a person who has understanding/insight. This is Wisdom’s invitation to you.”
Turn your back on the behavior of people who are easily deceived and continually follow the lifestyle of those who have good judgment. Then your life will be long/good.”

9:6b

and you will live;

so that you^(plur) will live long.
and then you will have a good, long life.

and you will live: The consequence of forsaking immature behavior is that you will live. As in other verses in Proverbs, this implies a long and good life. In some languages, it may be more natural to change the clause order. For example:

If you want to have a long life, then stop being easily deceived.

9:6c

walk in the way of understanding.”

Walk^(plur) straight ahead on the road that leads to understanding.”
Make sure that you^(plur) keep adding to your insight.”

walk in the way of understanding: This command is a figure of speech. It describes a path that leads to understanding. For example:

Start traveling the road to understanding. (GW)

Some ways to translate this command without using a figure of speech are:

Make steady progress in adding to your understanding/insight.

See to it that your insight is continually added to.

walk: This word means to “go forward,” “walk straight ahead,” or “go on.”

understanding: See understanding (insight) in the Glossary.

General Comments on 9:6a–c

In some languages, it may be more natural to reorder the lines of this verse so that the two parallel commands go together. For example:

^6aAbandon the path of immaturity ^6cand start walking on the road that leads to understanding ^6bso that you will have a good, long life.

See also 9:6a–c (combined/reordered) in the Display.

The versions differ as to where Wisdom’s invitation ends:

It ends at the end of 9:6. (BSB, RSV, REB, NJB, GNT, NJPS, CEV, NET, NLT, GW)
It continues through 9:12. (NIV, NCV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the subject matter of 9:7–12 does not sound like an invitation. In some languages, quotation marks will adequately mark the end of Wisdom’s invitation. In other languages, it may be necessary to add a sentence such as:

This is what Wisdom said in her invitation.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / you

עִזְב֣וּ & וִֽ⁠חְי֑וּ וְ֝⁠אִשְׁר֗וּ

lay_aside & and,live and,advance

All three of these commands are plural because Wisdom is addressing all the naive people at the same time.

Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-logic-goal

וִֽ⁠חְי֑וּ

and,live

Here, and indicates that what follows is the purpose for doing what Wisdom commands people to do earlier in this verse. Use a connector in your language that indicates a purpose. Alternate translation: “for the purpose of living”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

וִֽ⁠חְי֑וּ

and,live

Here, live refers to living a life that is long and satisfying. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: “and live a good, long life”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

וְ֝⁠אִשְׁר֗וּ בְּ⁠דֶ֣רֶךְ בִּינָֽה

and,advance in_[the],way_of understanding

Here, Wisdom speaks of a people behaving in a manner that will enable them to acquire understanding as if they were striding on a path. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “and behave in a manner that will enable you to acquire understanding”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

בִּינָֽה

understanding

See how you translated the abstract noun understanding in [1:2](../01/02.md).

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 9:6

Hebrew word order