8:10
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
10a Receive my instruction instead of silver,
10b and knowledge rather than pure gold,
There is an ellipsis in 8:10b. In some languages, it may be necessary to supply the missing verb from 8:10a. For example:
10b and ⌊receive⌋ knowledge rather than pure gold
8:10a
Receive my instruction instead of silver: This clause is an appeal to Receive the moral instruction that Wisdom offers rather than choosing silver. In Hebrew, the word Receive is literally “take.” It includes the idea of accepting and heeding Wisdom’s advice. For the word instruction, see the note on 1:2a.
In some languages, the comparison in this verse may be wrongly understood as a command not to accept silver or gold. One way to avoid this problem may be to translate as follows:
Consider my instruction to be more valuable than silver; consider knowledge to be more valuable than pure gold.
8:10b
and knowledge rather than pure gold: The phrase pure gold refers to the purest and most valuable gold. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
finest gold (Good News Translation)
-or-
choice gold (New International Version)
-or-
the most expensive gold
General Comments on 8:10a–b
This verse is similar to 3:14, but in 3:14, the comparison is between the profits produced by wisdom and those produced by silver and gold. Here in 8:10, the comparison is between the value of wisdom and the value of silver and gold.
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel lines. For example:
Choose to receive my instruction and knowledge rather than to accumulate silver and gold.
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