“Give heed to my reproof”: Wisdom is addressing her words to the simple ones, the scoffers, and the fools mentioned in verse 22. “Give heed”, as the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, is literally “turn,” an expression that sometimes means to “listen to” or “pay attention to.” “Reproof” translates a word used frequently in Proverbs; “reproof” is the correction given to someone who is at fault. “My reproof” means the correction, reprimand, rebuke, or scolding that Wisdom gives the foolish. A translation of the whole line that expresses this says, “Now I speak to you to correct you, and you must listen!” Another renders “reproof” as “speak strongly to you about letting go your bad behavior.”
“Behold, I will pour out my thoughts to you”: “Behold” calls attention to the importance of what is about to follow. Contemporary English Version combines the three lines of this verse and begins “Listen as I correct you and tell you. . ..” “Pour out my thoughts” is literally “pour out my spirit.” The Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible note is instructive at this point: “The spirit of wisdom may mean its inspiration which gives religious intelligence for human conduct (compare the sense of spirit in Job 32.8). It may also mean the Spirit promised by certain prophets (Isa 11.1-4; Joel 3).”
In any event Wisdom is likened to a fountain of water, a gushing spring for the person who will accept her instruction. Translations differ considerably in this line. New American Bible has “pour out to you my spirit,” New Jewish Publication Society Version “speak my mind,” New Jerusalem Bible “pour out my heart,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “I open to you [plural] the treasure of my wisdom.”
It seems best to understand “my spirit” (“my thoughts”) in terms of what characterizes Wisdom, who is the speaker here. Her essential characteristic is wisdom, and therefore we may say something equivalent to Good News Translation “I will give you good advice” or Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “I will fill you with wisdom.”
“I will make my words known to you”: This line repeats the thought of the previous line. “My words” means “my thoughts,” “my decisions,” “what I think.” Since the people refuse to listen to the words or thoughts of Wisdom, she tells them how she will treat them with scorn.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .