“They will be life for your soul”: “They” refers again to sound wisdom and discretion in verse 21. “Life for your soul” is another way of expressing long life, which is promised in verse 16. “Soul” translates the Hebrew nefesh, which refers here to the person’s physical existence. The sense of this line is “They will give you a long life” or “Because of them you will have a long life.”

“Adornment for your neck”: In 1.9 the instruction given the child by its parents is said to be like a necklace. In 3.3 the learner of wisdom is advised to bind loyalty and faithfulness about the neck. In this context the “adornment” is expressed by the term “fair” in 1.9. See there for comments. Verse 22 affirms again that the person who possesses true wisdom will be granted not only long life but graciousness, an attractive and desirable characteristic. Some modern translations avoid the two-line parallelism and say, for example, “They will give you a long and pleasant life.” Contemporary English Version has “They will help you to live a long and beautiful life.”

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 .