DeaconReceptive wisdom

Proverbs 1 — Purpose and the call of Wisdom — Hebrew and Greek compared

Saints Translation — Proverbs 1–31 [V1]

Same 1 Similar 7 Different 16 Divergent 5 Disparate 4

Disparate in this chapter: H 1:12, H 1:17, H 1:22, H 1:32

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 1 — Purpose and the call of Wisdom

1:1–1:9 — Purpose and parental teaching

Verse H 1:1 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:1

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:1

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, who reigned in Israel,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek has a relative clause about reigning where Hebrew gives the title king. The genealogy corresponds.

Verse H 1:2 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:2

for knowing wisdom and discipline, for understanding words of insight,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:2

for knowing wisdom and discipline and understanding words of good sense,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: The purpose of acquiring wisdom and understanding corresponds; the insight vocabulary varies slightly.

Verse H 1:3 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:3

for receiving discipline in wise conduct, righteousness, justice, and equity,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:3

for receiving turns of speech, understanding true righteousness, and directing judgment aright,

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek turns of speech replaces Hebrew discipline in wise conduct and expresses judgment as an action; true is explicit in Greek.

Verse H 1:4 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:4

to give prudence to the inexperienced, knowledge and discretion to the young,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:4

so that he may give shrewdness to the innocent, perception and thought to a young child.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek innocent differs from Hebrew inexperienced/simple; the singular subject he is left implicit in identity. Shrewdness is constructive in this educational setting, not automatically deceit.

Verse H 1:5 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:5

Let the wise listen and increase in learning, and the discerning acquire guidance,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:5

For a wise person who hears these things will become wiser, and the discerning will acquire guidance,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek expressly says these things and becoming wiser; Hebrew speaks of increased learning.

Verse H 1:6 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:6

to understand a proverb and a figurative saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:6

and understand a comparison and an obscure saying, the utterances of the wise and riddles.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek obscure saying differs from Hebrew melitsah, provisionally figurative saying; comparison/proverb retains the respective descriptions.

Verse H 1:7 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:7

The fear of YHWH is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:7

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and good understanding belongs to all who practice it. Reverence toward God is the beginning of perception, but the ungodly will despise wisdom and discipline.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek expands the opening into three positive clauses, with wisdom, practiced understanding, and reverence/perception. Hebrew has one knowledge clause. Greek God differs from YHWH, and ungodly from fools.

Verse H 1:8 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:8

Listen, my son, to your father's discipline, and do not abandon your mother's instruction,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:8

Listen, son, to your father's discipline, and do not reject your mother's ordinances,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek lacks my and has ordinances where Hebrew has instruction; both parents' teaching is retained.

Verse H 1:9 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:9

for they are a graceful garland for your head and necklaces for your neck.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:9

for you will receive a crown of graces for your head and a golden collar around your neck.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek future receiving and golden collar differ from Hebrew teaching-as-garland and unspecified necklaces. The ornament image remains educational.

1:10–1:19 — The invitation to violent gain

Verse H 1:10 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:10

My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:10

Son, do not let ungodly men lead you astray;

do not agree if they invite you, saying,

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek adds the lead-astray warning and carries the invitation/saying into this verse; Hebrew places saying in verse11. Both clauses are translated once in their displayed rows.

Verse H 1:11 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:11

If they say, Come with us;

let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide for the innocent without cause,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:11

Come with us;

share in bloodshed. Let us hide a righteous man in the earth unjustly;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek explicit complicity in blood and burying a righteous man differs from Hebrew waiting in ambush. The criminal invitation is reported speech, not the teacher's command.

Verse H 1:12 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:12

let us swallow them alive like Sheol, whole, like those descending to the Pit,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:12

let us swallow him alive like Hades and remove his memory from the earth.

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: Greek singular victim and obliterated memory differ from Hebrew plural victims and descent to the Pit. Sheol/Hades names the respective underworld expressions without adding later doctrinal definitions.

Verse H 1:13 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:13

we will find every precious possession;

we will fill our houses with plunder.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:13

Let us seize his costly property and fill our houses with spoils.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek explicitly takes this victim's property; Hebrew speaks more generally of precious wealth.

Verse H 1:14 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:14

Cast your lot among us;

we will all have one purse.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:14

Cast your lot among us;

let us all obtain a common purse, and let there be one moneybag for us.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek doubles the common-purse statement with a second moneybag clause, which is retained.

Verse H 1:15 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:15

My son, do not walk in the way with them;

hold your foot back from their path,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:15

Do not walk in the way with them;

turn your foot away from their paths,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek lacks my son; the shared warning against following the company corresponds.

Verse H 1:16 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:16

for their feet run toward evil, and they hurry to shed blood.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:16

for their feet run toward evil, and they are quick to shed blood.

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: Both selected running texts contain this complete warning. No absence is asserted from a different Greek edition or witness.

Verse H 1:17 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:17

For a net is spread in vain before the eyes of any winged creature,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:17

For nets are not unjustly stretched out for winged creatures.

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: Greek not unjustly differs from Hebrew in vain and lacks the seeing phrase. The negation and the contrasting interpretation of the net are preserved without harmonization.

Verse H 1:18 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:18

but they lie in wait for their own blood;

they hide for their own lives.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:18

For those who share in murder store up evils for themselves, and the overthrow of lawless men is evil.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek accumulated evils and overthrow differ from Hebrew self-directed ambush. The shared reversal upon the criminals is expressed differently.

Verse H 1:19 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:19

Such are the paths of everyone who gains by greed: it takes the life of its owners.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:19

These are the ways of all who carry out lawless deeds, for through ungodliness they take away their own life.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek lawless deeds and ungodliness differ from Hebrew greed/gain. Hebrew it refers provisionally to the gain or greedy pursuit; Greek names the offenders as taking their own life.

1:20–1:33 — Wisdom calls in public

Verse H 1:20 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:20

Wisdom cries aloud outside;

in the squares she raises her voice.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:20

Wisdom is celebrated at the exits, and in the squares she speaks openly.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek passive is celebrated differs from Hebrew Wisdom's active cry. Wisdom is a feminine personification here; no unexpressed divine identity is added to the translation.

Verse H 1:21 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:21

At the head of the noisy streets she calls;

at the city's gateways she speaks her words:

Greek–English (G)

G 1:21

At the tops of walls she is proclaimed;

at rulers' gates she sits nearby, and at city gates she speaks boldly:

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek adds rulers' gates, has walls rather than noisy gathering places, and combines passive proclamation with active bold speech.

Verse H 1:22 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:22

How long, inexperienced ones, will you love inexperience, scoffers delight in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?

Greek–English (G)

G 1:22

As long as the innocent hold to righteousness, they will not be ashamed. But the senseless, desiring insolence, became ungodly and hated perception,

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: Greek begins with a positive assurance for the innocent, unlike the Hebrew rebuke of the inexperienced; the remaining Greek clauses describe offenders in the past. The source's favorable righteousness clause is not converted into a question.

Verse H 1:23 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:23

Turn at my correction. I will pour out my spirit to you;

I will make my words known to you.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:23

and became liable to reproofs. Look, I will send forth to you an utterance of my breath, and I will teach you my word.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek completes the preceding offenders' sentence instead of commanding return; an utterance of my breath differs from Hebrew my spirit. Lowercase my follows the explicitly personified Wisdom without settling later theological reception.

Verse H 1:24 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:24

Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:24

Since I called and you did not obey, and I extended words and you did not pay attention,

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek extended words differs from Hebrew stretched hand; refusal and disobedience also differ.

Verse H 1:25 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:25

and you disregarded all my counsel and wanted none of my correction,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:25

but you made my counsels ineffective and disobeyed my reproofs,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: The rejection of counsel and correction corresponds, with Greek plural counsels and explicit disobedience.

Verse H 1:26 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:26

I too will laugh at your calamity;

I will mock when your terror comes,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:26

therefore I too will laugh at your ruin and exult when destruction comes to you,

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek ruin/destruction and exulting differ from Hebrew calamity/terror and mocking.

Verse H 1:27 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:27

when your terror comes like devastation and your calamity arrives like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:27

and when sudden tumult reaches you and overthrow arrives like a storm, when affliction and siege come upon you, or when destruction comes to you.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek adds the final destruction alternative and has siege; Hebrew has anguish. Hebrew devastation is provisional for the displayed shoah form; the storm comparison remains separate.

Verse H 1:28 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:28

Then they will call me, but I will not answer;

they will seek me eagerly, but will not find me,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:28

For when you call upon me, I will not listen to you;

evil people will seek me and will not find me,

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek first addresses you, then names evil people; Hebrew uses they throughout. The person shift is retained.

Verse H 1:29 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:29

because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of YHWH,

Greek–English (G)

G 1:29

for they hated wisdom and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek wisdom differs from Hebrew knowledge; the refusal of divine fear corresponds.

Verse H 1:30 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:30

wanted none of my counsel, and despised all my correction.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:30

nor did they want to attend to my counsels, but they sneered at my reproofs.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: The rejected counsel and correction correspond, with Greek attending and sneering more explicit.

Verse H 1:31 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:31

They will eat the fruit of their way and be filled with their own schemes.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:31

Therefore they will eat the fruits of their own way and be filled with their own ungodliness.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek ungodliness differs from Hebrew schemes/counsels; fruits is plural in Greek.

Verse H 1:32 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:32

For the turning away of the inexperienced will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:32

For because they wronged the innocent, they will be murdered, and examination will destroy the ungodly.

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: Greek wrongdoing against innocent people, murder, and examination differ from Hebrew the inexperienced's own turning away and fools' complacency. The agency and grounds of judgment are materially different.

Verse H 1:33 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 1:33

But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, at ease without fear of harm.

Greek–English (G)

G 1:33

But whoever listens to me will dwell in hope and rest fearlessly from every evil.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek hope differs from Hebrew security and explicitly includes every evil; both close with the listener's safety.