Proverbs 15:21-23

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 15:21 tn Heb “lacking of mind.” The term לֵב (lev, “mind, heart”) refers by metonymy to thinking, and by extension to discernment, wisdom, good sense (cf. NIV “judgment”). The one who has not developed this ability to make proper choices finds great delight in folly.
2. Proverbs 15:21 tn Heb “a man of understanding” (so KJV, NIV); NLT “a sensible person.”
3. Proverbs 15:21 tn The Hebrew construction is יְיַשֶּׁר־לָכֶת (y^eyasher lakhet, “makes straight [to] go”). This is a verbal hendiadys, in which the first verb, the Piel imperfect, becomes adverbial, and the second form, the infinitive construct of הָלַךְ, halakh, becomes the main verb: “goes straight ahead” (cf. NRSV).
4. Proverbs 15:22 tn Heb “go wrong” (so NRSV, NLT). The verb is the Hiphil infinitive absolute from פָּרַר, parar, which means “to break; to frustrate; to go wrong” (HALOT 975 s.v. I פרר 2). The plans are made ineffectual or are frustrated when there is insufficient counsel.
5. Proverbs 15:22 sn The proverb says essentially the same thing as 11:14, but differently.
6. Proverbs 15:23 tn Heb “joy to the man” or “the man has joy.”
7. Proverbs 15:23 tn Heb “in the answer of his mouth” (so ASV); NASB “in an apt answer.” The term “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what he says. But because the parallelism is loosely synonymous, the answer given here must be equal to the good word spoken in season. So it is an answer that is proper or fitting.
8. Proverbs 15:23 tn Heb “in its season.” To say the right thing at the right time is useful; to say the right thing at the wrong time is counterproductive.