Verses 3 and 4 each have two clauses and are each introduced by an “if.” With verse 1 they form a series of three conditional statements all of which must be fulfilled in order for the results or consequences given in verses 5-22 to follow. As a conditional structure this series must therefore be expressed as “If . . . and if . . . and if . . . then. . .” and not as “If . . . or if . . . or if . . . then. . ..” New International Version is a good model for this particular structure: “(1) My son, if. . ., (3) and if. . ., (4) and if. . ., (5) then. . ..”

“Yes, if you cry out for insight”: “Yes” renders the Hebrew particle that normally introduces a clause of reason, but in this clause it marks the repetition of another “if” clause that must be fulfilled in addition to the previous “if” clause. In translation it is often omitted, but see the comments in the previous paragraph for a caution about this approach. “Cry out” here means to call out to someone for the purpose of getting something. Accordingly, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version say “beg for,” New Jerusalem Bible has “plea,” and Bible en français courant has “ask for help from.” “Insight” translates the same word as used in 1.2.

“Raise your voice for understanding” strengthens the sense of begging or pleading in the first line. The two lines are parallel and essentially the same in meaning, so Contemporary English Version reduces them to “Beg as loud as you can for good common sense.” Good News Translation keeps the parallelism with “Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch combines the lines by saying “Call understanding and insight for help.” Bible en français courant has “Ask intelligence for help, call reason to your aid.”

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 .