Proverbs 9 — The invitations of Wisdom and Folly — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: H 9:13
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 9 — The invitations of Wisdom and Folly
9:1–9:6 — Wisdom prepares her banquet
Verse H 9:1 Similar
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:1
Wisdom has built her house;
she has hewn out her seven pillars.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:1
Wisdom built herself a house,
and set seven pillars beneath it.
Comparison and reception
Similar. Text: H emphasizes hewing the pillars; G their supporting placement. Saints: Athanasius, Against the Arians 2.44, interprets Wisdom’s house as the human body assumed by the Word. This christological reading remains separate from the poem’s wording. [AA2]
Verse H 9:2 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:2
She has slaughtered her slaughter-beasts, mixed her wine,
and also arranged her table.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:2
She slaughtered her own sacrificial animals,
mixed her own wine in a mixing-bowl,
and prepared her own table.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: G names sacrificial victims and a mixing-bowl; H's slaughter vocabulary need not itself specify sacrifice.
Verse H 9:3 Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:3
She has sent her young women; she calls
from the heights of the town's high places:
Greek–English (G)
G 9:3
She sent her own servants,
summoning with a lofty proclamation to the mixing-bowl, saying:
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: H explicitly sends female attendants and situates the call at the town heights. G sends servants and makes the mixing-bowl the invitation's destination.
Verse H 9:4 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:4
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
To one lacking heart she says:
Greek–English (G)
G 9:4
“Whoever is foolish, let him turn aside to me!”
And to those lacking understanding she said:
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H's 'lacking heart' is an expression for deficient judgment, not an anatomical defect; G names understanding directly.
Verse H 9:5 Similar
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:5
“Come, eat of my bread,
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:5
“Come, eat of my loaves,
and drink wine that I mixed for you.
Comparison and reception
Similar. Text: Both invite guests to bread and mixed wine; G adds 'for you'.
Verse H 9:6 Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:6
Leave the simple ones and live,
and walk straight in the way of understanding.”
Greek–English (G)
G 9:6
Leave foolishness, and you will live;
seek understanding, so that you may live,
and set insight right in knowledge.”
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: H's plural peta'im is retained as 'simple ones'; 'leave simplicity' is an interpretive alternative. G names foolishness and adds a separate seeking-understanding clause.
9:7–G9:12c — Correction, understanding, and fruitful paths
Verse H 9:7 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:7
One who disciplines a scoffer takes disgrace for himself,
and one who reproves a wicked person—his blemish.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:7
One who disciplines evil people will receive dishonor for himself,
and one who reproves an impious person will bring blame on himself.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H's second clause is compressed, literally ending 'his blemish'; whose blemish and the implied receiving remain interpretive. G expressly puts the blame on the reprover.
Verse H 9:8 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:8
Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you;
reprove a wise person, and he will love you.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:8
Do not reprove evil people, so that they may not hate you;
reprove a wise person, and he will love you.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H singles out a scoffer; G speaks more generally of evil people.
Verse H 9:9 Similar
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:9
Give to a wise person, and he will become still wiser;
make known to a righteous person, and he will add learning.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:9
Give a wise person a starting point, and he will be wiser;
inform a righteous person, and he will receive still more.
Comparison and reception
Similar. Text: H leaves the gift unstated; G names aphorme, a starting point or occasion.
Verse H 9:10 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:10
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of YHWH,
and knowledge of holy ones is understanding.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:10
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord,
and the counsel of holy ones is understanding.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H has knowledge, G counsel. Both display plural 'holy ones'; whether the H plural refers to the Holy One, heavenly beings, or holy matters is not settled by converting it silently to a singular.
Verse 9:10a Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H —
[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English (G)
G 9:10a
For knowing the law belongs to a good mind.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: This G entry explicitly links law and sound understanding; the displayed H main text has no corresponding entry.
Verse H 9:11 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:11
For by me your days will multiply,
and years of life will be added to you.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:11
For in this way you will live a long time,
and years of your life will be added to you.
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H explicitly says 'by me', the voice of Wisdom; G says 'in this way'.
Verse H 9:12 Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:12
If you become wise, you become wise for yourself;
and if you scoff, you alone will bear it.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:12
Son, if you become wise for yourself, you will also be wise for your neighbors;
but if you turn out evil, you alone will bear evils.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: G adds the benefit of wisdom to neighbors and addresses a son; H contrasts wisdom with scoffing, G with becoming evil.
Verse 9:12a Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H —
[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English (G)
G 9:12a
One who leans on lies—he will shepherd winds,
and that same person will pursue flying birds.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: G begins an additional warning about relying on falsehood; no corresponding H entry is displayed.
Verse 9:12b Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H —
[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English (G)
G 9:12b
For he has left the ways of his own vineyard,
and strayed from the paths of his own cultivated field.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: The additional G image concerns abandoning one's own cultivation. Axones is rendered 'paths' in the contextual sense supported elsewhere in Proverbs by the consulted LSJ axon entry; that entry is not claimed to cite this verse.
Verse 9:12c Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H —
[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English (G)
G 9:12c
He travels through a waterless wilderness
and land allotted among thirsty places,
and gathers fruitlessness with his hands.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: G continues the addition. The construction gen diatetagmenen en dipsodesin is awkward; 'land allotted among thirsty places' is close and provisional, not a confident geographical identification.
9:13–G9:18d — Folly's invitation and the warning to escape
Verse H 9:13 Disparate
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:13
The woman Folly is clamorous;
she is simple and knows nothing.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:13
A foolish and brazen woman comes to lack a morsel,
she who does not know shame.
Comparison and reception
Disparate. Text: H personifies folly as noisy and ignorant; G depicts a brazen woman lacking food and shame. Its concrete morsel is not replaced with H's simplicity.
Verse H 9:14 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:14
She sits at the doorway of her house,
on a seat at the heights of the town,
Greek–English (G)
G 9:14
She sat at the doors of her own house,
on a stool openly in the squares,
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: The settings differ: H town heights; G public squares and conspicuous seating.
Verse H 9:15 Similar
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:15
to call to those passing along the road,
who are making their paths straight:
Greek–English (G)
G 9:15
calling to those passing by
and going straight along their ways:
Comparison and reception
Similar. Text: Both portray an invitation that interrupts people already following a straight course.
Verse H 9:16 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:16
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
And to one lacking heart she says:
Greek–English (G)
G 9:16
“Whoever among you is most foolish, let him turn aside to me!”
And I urge those lacking understanding, saying:
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: G uses a superlative, 'most foolish', and switches into first-person exhortation within the woman's speech.
Verse H 9:17 Different
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:17
“Stolen waters are sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
Greek–English (G)
G 9:17
“Taste hidden loaves with pleasure,
and sweet stolen water.”
Comparison and reception
Different. Text: H asserts the attractions; G commands tasting them and reverses bread and water.
Verse H 9:18 Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H 9:18
But he does not know that the shades are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Greek–English (G)
G 9:18
But he does not know that earth-born ones perish beside her,
and he comes upon the ledge of Hades.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: H repha'im are the shades of the dead here. G has earth-born ones and a peteuron of Hades, rendered 'ledge' provisionally; the latter can denote a raised board or perch, and is not simply H's depths.
Verse 9:18a Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H —
[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English (G)
G 9:18a
But leap away; do not linger in the place,
and do not fix your eye upon her.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: G adds a direct command to flee the woman.
Verse 9:18b Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H —
[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English (G)
G 9:18b
For in this way you will cross foreign water
and pass over a foreign river.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: G continues with crossing foreign waters; the affirmative crossing language is retained despite the following command to abstain.
Verse 9:18c Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H —
[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English (G)
G 9:18c
But keep away from foreign water,
and do not drink from a foreign spring,
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: G extends the water image into a prohibition. 'Foreign' or 'another's' retains the image without replacing it with an explicit sexual referent. Saints: Clement of Alexandria, Instructor 3.2, interprets the foreign water and well as another person’s wife and applies the warning to sexual fidelity. His explicit referent is reception of the image, not a noun supplied in this Greek entry. [C3]
Verse 9:18d Divergent
Hebrew–English (H)
H —
[No corresponding text in the displayed Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English (G)
G 9:18d
so that you may live a long time,
and years of life may be added to you.
Comparison and reception
Divergent. Text: G closes its addition with a longevity promise, echoing 9:11.