“He who diligently seeks good seeks favor”: The main difficulty in this saying is the use of the term “favor”. “Favor” refers to good will or acceptance, which some understand here to mean the good will of people. See Good News Translation “you will be respected.” Contemporary English Version has “Try hard to do right, and you will win friends.” On the other hand, “favor” may be taken to mean the “favor” of God, in which case it may mean that the person is seeking to have God prefer him or that he seeks for God to do good for others. Bible en français courant follows this approach with “God approves of the one who seeks to act rightly.” It seems that only this second approach is consistent with the emphases of the book of Proverbs.

“Diligently seeks” renders a verb related to the noun “dawn” and has the sense of seeking at dawn or seeking early, which may be taken in the sense of Revised Standard Version “diligently”. “Good” is not an abstract quality but refers to good conduct or acting justly; in the light of this, “diligently seeks good” may be expressed as “tries hard to follow what is good” or “works to do what is right.” The second “seeks” in this line translates a different word than the first one and means to search for or try to find.

“But evil comes to him who searches for it”: In contrast to someone who seeks to do what is right, we have here someone who looks for evil. “Evil” refers to unfortunate or bad circumstances, difficult times, or unrest, and is personified here as coming to the person. “Searches” is yet another word with a similar meaning to the two words for “seeks” in the first line. Contemporary English Version translates this line “Go looking for trouble, and you will find it.”

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 .

This saying uses the image of two contrasting paths. See also 2.18-19; 5.5-6.

“In the path of righteousness is life”: “The path of righteousness is life” may be taken as “The path that leads to right living is life” or “Righteousness is the path that leads to life.” It may also be translated more freely as in Bible en français courant: “Life is found wherever right living is practiced.” We may also say, for example, “The person who follows the way that is right will have life” or “Follow the right road that leads to long life,” a common theme in Proverbs.

“But the way of error leads to death”: This line is again unclear. See the Revised Standard Version footnote. It appears to say “But the way of path not death.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the Hebrew rendered literally as “the way of path” means a particular kind of way, that is, “a well-constructed road.” Also, “not death” means without death, that is, “where there is no death.”

Hebrew Old Testament Text Project goes on to suggest that the whole saying may be translated “Upon the way of righteousness there is life, indeed it is a well-constructed road without death.” We may reword this suggestion as “The path of righteousness leads to long life, it is a well-built road without death.”

Note that just as Revised Standard Version supplies “error”, Good News Translation supplies “wickedness” to obtain a contrast in the second line: “wickedness is the road to death.” The Good News Translation rendering may be reworded, for example, “If you want to live long, act fairly. If you want to die, act wrongly.”

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 .

“Leave the presence of a fool”: This line is clearly expressed as a command, “Go away from. . .,” “Stay away from. . ..” The person to be avoided is called “a foolish man” or “a man of foolishness.” As the next line indicates, the idea is that the foolish, stupid person has no knowledge to impart to others and so should be avoided. Some translators express “fool” in the plural. See Good News Translation.

“For there you do not meet words of knowledge” is literally “or you will not know the lips of knowledge.” Some interpreters think “lips of knowledge” is obscure and so modify the Hebrew; for example, Scott translates “And do not lavish wise words [on him].” Others prefer the Hebrew text as it stands; for example, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “Keep away from a fool, because you will obtain no knowledge from his lips.” Contemporary English Version has “Stay away from fools, or you won’t learn a thing.” We recommend that translators follow the Hebrew text, as these models and most other versions do.

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 .

“A gentle tongue is a tree of life”: “A gentle tongue” is literally “a healing tongue.” The thought expressed here is essentially the same as “a soft answer” in verse 1. The sense is “kind or comforting words.” “A tree of life”, first used in 3.18, may be expressed as a simile, “like a tree that gives life” or, as in Good News Translation, “. . . bring life.” Bible en français courant says “. . . is a source of life.”

“But perverseness in it breaks the spirit”: “Perverseness” renders a word meaning “twisted” or “crooked,” as in 11.3 where “crookedness” is used. Something that is twisted is untrue or false. “Perverseness” parallels and contrasts the “gentle tongue”, not the “tree of life”. In other words false speech or lying “breaks the spirit”, an expression that means “causes despair” or “leads to ruin.” Contemporary English Version translates “Kind words are good medicine, but deceitful words can really hurt.” See Good News Translation also.

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 .

“Commit your work to the Lord“: This line says literally “roll your works on the Lord,” an idiom used also in Psa 37.5. The sense is “trust,” “confide in” or “rely on.” “Work” is plural in Hebrew and refers to actions, deeds, or undertakings. The whole line is equivalent to “Trust everything you do to the Lord.” One example of how this is expressed in translation is “Everything you want to do, put it in the hand of the Lord.”

“And your plans will be established”: This line is nearly the same as the second line of 4.26. “Plans” renders the same word as in 6.18 and 15.22. “Established” translates the same term used in 3.19 and 12.3. The sense in this verse is “cause to turn out well” or, as New Jerusalem Bible translates it, “and what you plan will be achieved.” Bible en français courant has “and you will carry out your plans”; one Pacific translation says “and your work will go ahead well.” See also Good News Translation.

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 .

This saying speaks of a son who brings shame on his family and is replaced by a slave who then inherits in the son’s place.

“A slave who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully”: “A slave” refers to a servant who is subjected to the total authority of a master. “Deals wisely” can mean to be clever or to act wisely, even morally (see 14.35). Good News Translation prefers “shrewd,” which suggests keen intelligence as well as cunning. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “capable,” and Bible en français courant “perceptive.” In the context of a slave knowing how to behave wisely for his own benefit, such words as “clever,” “capable,” and “intelligent” seem adequate. Contemporary English Version says “hard-working.” “Rule over” means “to be in charge of” or “to become a master.” “Acts shamefully” renders the same word used in 10.5 (translated “brings shame”) and 14.35. See there for comments.

“And will share the inheritance as one of the brothers”: “Share the inheritance” means to receive a part of the possessions belonging to the father when he dies. The expression “as one of the brothers” means that the slave will replace the disgraced son mentioned in the first line of the saying and will be considered as a son to the father and a brother to his other sons. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates the whole saying “The capable servant becomes a master of the disgraced son and has part in the inheritance like the other brothers.” See also Good News Translation.

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 .

Verses 6 and 7 share the theme of the speech of fools.

“A fool’s lips bring strife”: “Lips” is used frequently in Proverbs to refer to speech. For “lips of the wise” see 14.3. “Strife” refers to trouble, hatred, fighting, and bad relations in a community. See 17.1. New Living Translation expresses this line as “Fools get into constant quarrels.”

“And his mouth invites a flogging”: “Mouth” parallels “lips” in the first line and again refers to the fool’s talk. “A flogging” is a beating, but it is not certain if the person who is beaten is the fool or someone else. Revised English Bible says “his words provoke blows.” Revised Standard Version and especially Good News Translation understand that the fool gets the flogging, and most translations agree. Contemporary English Version expresses this whole saying: “Foolish talk will get you into a lot trouble.”

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 .