DeaconGuided attention

Proverbs 4 — A father’s instruction and two paths — Hebrew and Greek compared

Saints Translation — Proverbs 1–31 [V1]

Same 0 Similar 10 Different 13 Divergent 5 Disparate 1

Disparate in this chapter: H 4:8

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 4 — A father’s instruction and two paths

4:1–4:9 — A father passes on wisdom

Verse H 4:1 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:1

Listen, children, to a father's discipline;

pay attention to gain understanding,

Greek–English (G)

G 4:1

Listen, children, to a father's discipline;

pay attention to gain discernment,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: The call to hear paternal instruction corresponds, with related understanding vocabulary. Saints: Athanasius, Festal Letter 2.1, cites Proverbs 4:1–3 while arguing that a teacher should embody the conduct taught to others. The published English quotation includes the Greek-style good gift and obedient son. [AF2]

Verse H 4:2 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:2

for I give you good teaching;

do not abandon my instruction.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:2

for I give you a good gift;

do not abandon my law.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek good gift differs from Hebrew good teaching; law/instruction reflects the respective teaching vocabulary.

Verse H 4:3 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:3

For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child before my mother,

Greek–English (G)

G 4:3

For I too became a son obedient to a father and loved in a mother's presence,

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek obedient/loved differs from Hebrew tender/only; the Hebrew only designation is retained without reconstructing family history.

Verse H 4:4 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:4

and he taught me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast to my words;

keep my commandments and live.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:4

who said and taught me, Let our word take hold in your heart;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek plural who and our includes the parents together, while Hebrew has one teaching father and my words. Greek's keep-commandments clause follows in verse5; the live command has no counterpart here.

Verse H 4:5 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:5

Acquire wisdom;

acquire understanding. Do not forget or turn away from the words of my mouth.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:5

keep commandments;

do not forget or disregard an utterance of my mouth,

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek lacks acquire wisdom/acquire understanding and begins with the command corresponding to Hebrew4:4. Each displayed clause is translated once within its actual verse boundary.

Verse H 4:6 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:6

Do not abandon her, and she will keep you;

love her, and she will guard you.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:6

and do not abandon her, and she will hold fast to you;

love her, and she will keep you.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek holding fast differs from Hebrew guarding in the first promise. Feminine her is retained without inserting an absent Wisdom noun into Greek4:5–6.

Verse H 4:7 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:7

The beginning of wisdom is this: acquire wisdom, and with all your acquiring, acquire understanding.

Greek–English (G)

G —

[No corresponding passage in the selected Greek text.]

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek moves directly from4:6 to4:8. The Hebrew opening can also be construed Wisdom is foremost; acquire wisdom. The relation of all your acquiring to cost or other possessions remains interpretively open.

Verse H 4:8 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:8

Prize her, and she will exalt you;

she will honor you when you embrace her.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:8

Fortify her, and she will exalt you;

honor her so that she may embrace you,

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: Greek reverses the second clause's agency: the pupil honors her and she embraces him, whereas Hebrew she honors the pupil when he embraces her. Greek fortify differs from Hebrew prize/exalt, whose precise intensive sense remains qualified.

Verse H 4:9 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:9

She will place a graceful garland on your head;

she will bestow a glorious crown on you.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:9

so that she may give your head a crown of graces and shield you with a crown of delight.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek shielding with a crown differs from Hebrew bestowing a crown; delight differs from glory/beauty.

4:10–4:19 — Two ways of life

Verse H 4:10 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:10

Listen, my son, and receive my words, and your years of life will increase.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:10

Listen, son, and receive my words, and your years of life will multiply, so that many ways of living may be yours,

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek adds the many-ways-of-life clause and lacks my before son.

Verse H 4:11 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:11

I have taught you in wisdom's way;

I have led you in upright tracks.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:11

for I teach you ways of wisdom and lead you onto straight tracks.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek present teaching and plural ways differ from Hebrew completed instruction and singular way.

Verse H 4:12 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:12

When you walk, your steps will not be cramped;

when you run, you will not stumble.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:12

For if you walk, your steps will not be shut in, and if you run, you will not grow weary.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek not growing weary differs from Hebrew not stumbling in the running clause.

Verse H 4:13 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:13

Hold fast to discipline;

do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:13

Take hold of my discipline;

do not release it, but keep it for yourself for your life.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek adds my/for yourself and describes discipline as for life, while Hebrew says she is your life. The Hebrew shift to a feminine pronoun is retained.

Verse H 4:14 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:14

Do not enter the path of the wicked or advance along the way of evil people.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:14

Do not enter the ways of the ungodly or imitate the ways of the lawless.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek imitate differs from Hebrew advance along; both prohibit taking the offenders' paths.

Verse H 4:15 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:15

Avoid it;

do not pass through it. Turn aside from it and pass on.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:15

Wherever they encamp, do not go there;

turn away from them and pass by.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek offenders' encampment and turning from people differ from Hebrew avoiding a path.

Verse H 4:16 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:16

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil;

their sleep is stolen unless they make someone stumble.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:16

For they will not sleep unless they do harm;

their sleep has been taken away, and they do not lie down.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek lacks the second conditional making-someone-stumble clause and instead repeats sleeplessness. Hebrew causative stumbling follows the displayed vocalized sense, with the written/read form left for specialist checking.

Verse H 4:17 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:17

For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:17

For these people eat food of ungodliness and get drunk on lawless wine.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek intoxication differs from Hebrew drinking, and lawless wine from wine of violence.

Verse H 4:18 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:18

But the path of the righteous is like a shining light, growing brighter until the day is fully established.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:18

But the ways of the righteous shine like light;

they go forward and illuminate until the day comes right.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek plural ways and active progress/illumination differ from Hebrew the progressively brighter path. The final day expressions are rendered closely without specifying an unstated clock time.

Verse H 4:19 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:19

The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

they do not know what makes them stumble.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:19

But the ways of the ungodly are dark;

they do not know how they stumble.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek asks how rather than Hebrew at what; the dark-way image corresponds.

4:20–G4:27b — Guarding heart, speech, and steps

Verse H 4:20 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:20

My son, attend to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:20

Son, attend to my utterance;

apply your ear to my words,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek singular utterance/plural words differs slightly from Hebrew plural words/sayings and lacks my before son.

Verse H 4:21 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:21

Do not let them slip from your eyes;

keep them within your heart,

Greek–English (G)

G 4:21

so that your springs do not fail you;

keep them in your heart,

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek explicitly names your springs and their not failing, while Hebrew continues the words' visibility. The springs image is not silently replaced with words.

Verse H 4:22 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:22

for they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:22

for there is life for those who find them and healing for all flesh.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek follows the springs and has general all flesh; Hebrew has the finder's flesh with a singular suffix after plural finders. The number shift is smoothed to collective their, not a universal healing claim.

Verse H 4:23 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:23

Above everything guarded, guard your heart, for from it flow the outlets of life.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:23

With every guard keep your heart, for from these come life's outlets.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek from these is plural, unlike Hebrew from it referring to the heart. Its exact antecedent, perhaps the preceding springs or acts of guarding, remains unresolved rather than being replaced with singular heart.

Verse H 4:24 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:24

Remove crooked speech from yourself;

put devious lips far from you.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:24

Remove a crooked mouth from yourself and thrust unjust lips far away from you.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek mouth/unjust lips differs slightly from Hebrew crookedness of mouth/devious lips; both demand truthful speech.

Verse H 4:25 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:25

Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids direct themselves before you.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:25

Let your eyes look straight, and let your eyelids incline toward righteous things.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: Greek righteous things gives an ethical object to the eyelids' inclination, unlike Hebrew the direct forward gaze. The unusual eyelid image is preserved.

Verse H 4:26 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:26

Level the track for your foot, and let all your ways be established.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:26

Make straight tracks for your feet and direct your ways aright.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek feet is plural and both clauses are active commands; Hebrew second clause has established ways. Level is a contextual rendering of the weighing/making-even verb.

Verse H 4:27 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 4:27

Do not turn to the right or the left;

turn your foot away from evil.

Greek–English (G)

G 4:27

Do not turn to the right or the left;

turn your foot away from an evil way.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: Greek specifies the evil way; the right/left prohibition corresponds.

Verse 4:27a Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H —

[No corresponding passage in the selected Hebrew text.]

Greek–English (G)

G 4:27a

For God knows the ways on the right, but those on the left are perverted.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek4:27a adds a right/left distinction absent from Hebrew. It is retained alongside the preceding prohibition of turning either way, without resolving the tension by deletion.

Verse 4:27b Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H —

[No corresponding passage in the selected Hebrew text.]

Greek–English (G)

G 4:27b

He Himself will make your tracks straight and advance your journeys in peace.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: Greek4:27b adds an explicit divine promise without a Hebrew counterpart here.