ApostleResilient wisdom

Proverbs 24 — Wisdom, rescue, justice, and the lesson of neglect — Hebrew and Greek compared

Saints Translation — Proverbs 1–31 [V1]

Same 6 Similar 8 Different 13 Divergent 10 Disparate 2

Disparate in this chapter: H 24:15, H 24:30

Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.

Proverbs 24 — Wisdom, rescue, justice, and the lesson of neglect

The H publisher extraction displays thirty-four sof-pasuq-delimited verses without numeric labels; references follow their complete sequential segmentation. G labels 24:22a–e as additional entries. The publisher's chapter navigation is recorded as accessed; any larger printed-book collection order requires separate verification.

24:1–24:10 — Wisdom and strength

Verse H 24:1 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:1

Do not envy men of evil,

and do not desire to be with them,

Greek–English (G)

G 24:1

Son, do not envy evil men,

and do not desire to be with them;

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: G adds the address 'son'.

Verse H 24:2 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:2

for their heart meditates violence,

and their lips speak trouble.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:2

for their heart meditates lies,

and their lips speak toils.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H names violence, G lies; both associate their speech with harmful trouble.

Verse H 24:3 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:3

By wisdom a house is built,

and by understanding it is established;

Greek–English (G)

G 24:3

With wisdom a house is built,

and with understanding it is raised upright;

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: The building metaphor and the role of understanding closely agree.

Verse H 24:4 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:4

and by knowledge rooms are filled

with every precious and pleasant possession.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:4

with discernment store-rooms are filled

from every precious and good wealth.

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: Both describe wisdom's house furnished with valuable goods.

Verse H 24:5 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:5

A wise man is in strength,

and a man of knowledge makes power firm.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:5

A wise person is better than a strong one,

and a man with understanding than a great cultivated estate;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H states the wise person's strength; G ranks wisdom above strength and understanding above a large farm.

Verse H 24:6 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:6

for with guidance you wage your war,

and deliverance is in an abundance of counselors.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:6

with steering war takes place,

and help is with a deliberative heart.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H names many counselors; G a heart capable of deliberation.

Verse H 24:7 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:7

Wisdom is too high for a fool;

in the gate he does not open his mouth.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:7

Wisdom and good reflection are in the gates of the wise;

the wise do not turn from the mouth of the Lord,

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: H's ra'mot is provisionally 'too high', with a precious-material comparison also proposed. G instead locates wisdom among the wise and explicitly names obedience to the Lord.

Verse H 24:8 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:8

One who plans to do evil—

they call him a master of schemes.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:8

but deliberate in councils.

Death meets the uneducated,

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G continues the wise people's deliberation from 24:7, then introduces death confronting the uneducated; H names an evil schemer.

Verse H 24:9 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:9

The scheming of folly is sin,

and a scoffer is an abomination to humankind.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:9

and a fool dies in sins;

and impurity will be defiled in a pestilent man,

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G predicts a fool's death and uses an awkward passive construction about impurity being defiled in a pestilent man. It is kept close and provisional rather than silently rewritten as H's scoffer being abhorred.

Verse H 24:10 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:10

If you grow slack on a day of distress,

your strength is narrow.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:10

on an evil day and on a day of affliction,

until he fails.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G continues 24:9's sentence about the pestilent man; H independently diagnoses weakness in adversity.

24:11–24:18 — Rescue, hope, and the fallen enemy

Verse H 24:11 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:11

Rescue those being taken to death,

and those tottering toward slaughter—would you hold back?

Greek–English (G)

G 24:11

Rescue those being led to death,

and ransom those being killed; do not hold back.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: H's im with the withholding verb is difficult: it can introduce a conditional or emphatic appeal. The question rendering preserves the appeal's force without claiming an explicit negative; G expressly forbids withholding.

Verse H 24:12 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:12

If you say, “Look, we did not know this,”

does not the One who weighs hearts understand?

The One who guards your life knows,

and repays a person according to his work.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:12

But if you say, “I do not know this person,”

know that the Lord knows everyone's hearts,

and the One who fashioned breath for all Himself knows everything,

and repays each one according to his works.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H's excuse is ignorance of the matter; G not knowing the person. G expressly names the Lord and the maker of everyone's breath; H the weigher of hearts and guardian of one's life.

Verse H 24:13 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:13

Eat honey, my son, for it is good,

and drippings are sweet upon your palate.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:13

Eat honey, son, for a honeycomb is good,

so that your throat may be sweetened;

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: H names honey drippings and the palate, G a comb and the throat.

Verse H 24:14 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:14

Know wisdom thus for your life;

if you find it, there is an afterward,

and your hope will not be cut off.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:14

in this way you will perceive wisdom for your own life;

for if you find it, your end will be good,

and hope will not abandon you.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: G explicitly qualifies the final outcome as good; H simply affirms an afterward.

Verse H 24:15 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:15

Do not lie in wait, wicked person, against the dwelling of the righteous;

do not devastate his resting place,

Greek–English (G)

G 24:15

Do not bring an impious person to the pasture of the righteous,

and do not be deceived by a filled belly;

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: H addresses the wicked aggressor; G prohibits bringing an impious person to righteous provision and adds a warning about satiety.

Verse H 24:16 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:16

for the righteous falls seven times and rises,

but the wicked stumble in evil.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:16

for the righteous will fall seven times and rise,

but the impious will grow weak amid evils.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: H stumbling corresponds to G weakening; the repeated righteous recovery agrees.

Verse H 24:17 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:17

When your enemies fall, do not rejoice,

and when he stumbles, do not let your heart exult,

Greek–English (G)

G 24:17

If your enemy falls, do not rejoice over him,

and at his tripping do not lift yourself up,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: The displayed H begins with plural enemies and shifts to singular 'he'; G consistently uses a singular enemy.

Verse H 24:18 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:18

lest YHWH see and it be evil in His eyes,

and He turn His anger away from him.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:18

for the Lord will see, and it will not please Him,

and He will turn His wrath away from him.

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: Both oppose malicious joy and describe divine anger turning away from the fallen enemy.

24:19–G24:22e — Reverence and royal authority

Verse H 24:19 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:19

Do not burn with anger at evildoers;

do not envy the wicked,

Greek–English (G)

G 24:19

Do not rejoice over evildoers,

and do not envy sinners;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H's first command forbids fretting or heated anger; G forbids rejoicing over evildoers.

Verse H 24:20 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:20

for the evil person has no afterward;

the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:20

for evil people will certainly have no offspring,

and the lamp of the impious will be extinguished.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H's future outcome becomes G's explicit offspring, as at 23:18.

Verse H 24:21 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:21

Fear YHWH, my son, and the king;

do not associate with those who change,

Greek–English (G)

G 24:21

Fear God, son, and the king,

and disobey neither of them;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H's changers are provisionally those changing allegiance or rebelling; G directly forbids disobedience to either ruler.

Verse H 24:22 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:22

for suddenly their calamity will arise,

and who knows the ruin of them both?

Greek–English (G)

G 24:22

for suddenly they will punish the impious,

and who will know the punishments of both?

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: G explicitly makes God and king the joint punishers. H's twofold ruin or disaster from both is less explicit in its possessive construction.

Verse 24:22a Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H —

[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]

Greek–English (G)

G 24:22a

A son who guards a word will be outside destruction,

and receiving it, he has received it.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G adds this compressed saying. The repeated receiving phrase and masculine pronoun are difficult; the translation provisionally takes the son as receiver and the word as object, while another implied receiver of the son is possible.

Verse 24:22b Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H —

[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]

Greek–English (G)

G 24:22b

Let no falsehood from a tongue be spoken to a king,

and no falsehood will ever come from his tongue.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G adds a reciprocal-looking rule about truthful speech to and from the king; its second clause is emphatically future.

Verse 24:22c Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H —

[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]

Greek–English (G)

G 24:22c

A king's tongue is a sword and is not made of flesh,

and whoever is handed over will be crushed;

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G extends royal speech into a lethal sword image.

Verse 24:22d Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H —

[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]

Greek–English (G)

G 24:22d

for if his wrath is sharpened,

it consumes human beings with their sinews,

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G continues the royal wrath image with bodily destruction.

Verse 24:22e Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H —

[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]

Greek–English (G)

G 24:22e

and devours human bones,

and burns them together like a flame,

so that they are inedible to young eagles.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G concludes the addition by depicting destruction leaving nothing for scavenging birds; the graphic ancient image is retained.

24:23–24:29 — Further sayings on justice

Verse H 24:23 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:23

These also belong to the wise:

to recognize faces in judgment is not good.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:23

These things I say to you, the wise, to recognize:

to show deference to a face in judgment is not good;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H begins a new collection heading attributed to wise people; G makes the teacher address the wise. Both condemn judicial partiality.

Verse H 24:24 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:24

One who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,”

peoples curse him, nations denounce him;

Greek–English (G)

G 24:24

One who says of the impious, “He is righteous,”

will be accursed among peoples and hated among nations;

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: Both condemn public acquittal of the wicked.

Verse H 24:25 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:25

but it will be pleasant for those who reprove,

and a blessing of good will come upon them.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:25

but those who reprove will appear better,

and a good blessing will come upon them;

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: H promises pleasantness, G a better reputation or appearance.

Verse H 24:26 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:26

One who answers straightforward words

kisses lips.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:26

and lips answering good words will kiss.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Both portray a fitting answer with a kiss, though G makes the lips themselves the grammatical agent.

Verse H 24:27 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:27

Prepare your work outside,

and make it ready for yourself in the field;

afterward build your house.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:27

Prepare your works for going out,

and make yourself ready for the field,

and go behind me,

and you will rebuild your house.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G adds following the speaker and makes the final building a future result; H explicitly orders outside work before house building.

Verse H 24:28 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:28

Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause,

and would you deceive with your lips?

Greek–English (G)

G 24:28

Do not be a false witness against your fellow citizen,

and do not make your lips wide;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H forbids causeless testimony and questions deceit; G explicitly says false witness and restrains expansive speech.

Verse H 24:29 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:29

Do not say, “As he did to me, so I will do to him;

I will repay the man according to his work.”

Greek–English (G)

G 24:29

Do not say, “As he treated me, I will treat him,

and I will punish him for what he wronged me.”

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: Both forbid vindictive reciprocal treatment.

24:30–24:34 — Learning from an abandoned field

Verse H 24:30 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:30

I passed by a lazy man's field,

and by the vineyard of a person lacking heart;

Greek–English (G)

G 24:30

A foolish man is like a cultivated field,

and a person lacking understanding like a vineyard;

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: H's narrator observes neglected property; G makes the foolish person himself the field and vineyard in a simile.

Verse H 24:31 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:31

and look, all of it had grown up with thorns,

nettles covered its surface,

and its stone wall was torn down.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:31

if you leave him alone, he will become wasteland,

and grow wild with grass all over and become abandoned,

and his stone fences are torn down.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: G continues the person-as-field comparison and adds a conditional neglect; H describes the already neglected property.

Verse H 24:32 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:32

I looked, I set my heart upon it;

I saw, I received discipline:

Greek–English (G)

G 24:32

Afterward I reconsidered;

I looked so as to choose discipline.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Both describe the observer learning from what is seen; G emphasizes reconsideration and choosing instruction.

Verse H 24:33 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:33

“A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of hands to lie down”—

Greek–English (G)

G 24:33

“A little I doze, a little I sleep,

a little I clasp my chest with my hands”—

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: G explicitly uses first-person verbs and adds the chest, where H has nominal amounts of sleep and folded hands.

Verse H 24:34 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 24:34

and your poverty comes as one walking about,

and your lack like a man with a shield.

Greek–English (G)

G 24:34

but if you do this, your poverty will come marching in front,

and your want like a good runner.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: G adds a condition and replaces H's shield-bearing man with an able runner. Both repeat images related to chapter 6.