Proverbs, Volume 22

Roland E. Murphy, Bruce M. Metzger, David Allen Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker, John D. W. Watts, James W. Watts, Ralph P. Martin, Lynn Allan Losie, Bruce M. Metzger, David Allen Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker, John D. W. Watts, James W. Watts, Ralph P. Martin, Lynn Allan Losie

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9780310588542
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Overview of Commentary Organization

• Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology.
• Each section of the commentary includes:
• Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope.
• Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English.
• Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation.
• Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here.
• Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research.
• Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues.
  • General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

Proverbs

Title and Purpose (1:1–7)

Proverbs 1

^1:1The Proverbs of Solomon, Son of David, King of Israel:

²To know wisdom and instruction,

to understand intelligent words;

³To take in insightful instruction:

justice and judgment and right;

⁴To give cleverness to the simple,

knowledge and thoughtfulness to youth;

⁵That the wise may hear and add to what they take in,

and the intelligent acquire direction;

⁶To understand proverb and riddle,

words of the wise and their puzzles.

⁷The fear of the Lord: the beginning of knowledge;

wisdom and instruction fools despise.

Introductory Instructions (1:8–9:18)

^1:8My son, listen to the instruction of your father,

do not abandon the teaching of your mother,

⁹For a gracious wreath on your head, they;

a necklace for your throat.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you,

do not go along!

¹¹If they say, “Come with us,

let us lie in wait for blood!

For no reason, we will ambush the innocent!

¹²We will swallow them alive like Sheol—

whole, like those who go down to the pit.

¹³We will get all kinds of precious things;

We will fill our homes with loot.

¹⁴Throw in your lot with us;

We shall all have one purse!”

¹⁵My son, do not walk in the way with them;

keep back your feet from their path,

¹⁶For their feet run to evil,

and they hasten to shed blood—

¹⁷In vain a net baited

before the eyes of any bird—

¹⁸But they lie in wait for their own blood;

they ambush themselves.

¹⁹Such the ways of all who are bent on gain;

it takes the lives of its owners.

²⁰Wisdom cries out in the streets,

raises her voice in the squares;

²¹At a corner of bustling streets she calls;

at the city gates she speaks her words:

²²“How long, simple ones, will you love being simple,

and the arrogant delight in their arrogance,

and the fools hate knowledge,

²³Turning away at my reproof?

Now I will pour out my spirit to you;

I will make known my words to you:

²⁴Because I called and you refused;

I put forth my hand, but no one gave heed.

²⁵You disregarded all my counsel,

and did not accept my reproof;

²⁶Now I will laugh at your calamity;

I will mock when your terror comes,

²⁷When your terror comes like a storm,

and your calamity arrives like a whirlwind,

and distress and anguish come upon you.

²⁸Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;

they will seek me, but they will not find me,

²⁹Because they hated knowledge,

and the fear of the Lord they did not choose;

³⁰They were not open to my advice;

they rejected my every reproof.

³¹So they shall eat the fruit of their own way,

and they shall have their fill of their own plans.

³²For the defection of the simple kills them,

and the complacency of fools destroys them;

³³But whoever listens to me will live in safety,

peacefully, with no terror to fear.”

Proverbs 2

^2:1My son, if you take in my words

and make my commands your treasure,

²Giving your ear to wisdom,

inclining your heart to understanding;

³If you call out for perception

and summon understanding;

⁴If you seek for her like silver

and search for her like hidden treasure;

⁵Then you will underst...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Author’s Preface
• Editorial Preface
• Abbreviations
• Main Bibliography
• Introduction
• Translation of Proverbs 1:1–31:31
• Title and Purpose
• Introductory Instructions (1:8–9:18)
• The Proverbs of Solomon (10:1–22:16)
• The Words of the Wise (22:17–24:22)
• The Words of the Wise
• The Proverbs of Solomon (25:1–29:27)
• The Words of Agur
• Numerical Sayings
• The Words of Lemuel
• The Ideal Woman
• Excursuses
• Indexes