Proverbs 2:9

Pro 2:9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; [yea], every good path.

Ver. 9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness.] Not as cognoscitiva, standing in speculation; but as directiva vitae, a rule of life. Knowledge is either apprehensive only, or affective also. This differs from that, as much as the light of the sun, wherein is the influence of an enlivening power, from the light of torches.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With the אז repeated, the promises encouraging to the endeavour after wisdom take a new departure:

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and justice,

And uprightness; every way of good.

10 For wisdom will enter into thine heart,

And knowledge will do good to thy soul;

11 Discretion will keep watch over thee,

Understanding will keep thee.

Regarding the ethical triad מישׁרים [righteousness, rightness], משׁפּט [judgment], and צדק [rectitude], vid., Pro 1:3. Seb. Schmid is wrong in his rendering, et omnis via qua bonum aditur erit tibi plana, which in comparison with Isa 26:7 would be feebly expressed. J. H. Michaelis rightly interprets all these four conceptions as object-accusatives; the fourth is the summarizing asyndeton (cf. Psa 8:7) breaking off the enumeration: omnem denique orbitam boni; Jerome, bonam: in this case, however, טוב would be genitive (vid., Pro 17:2). מעגּל is the way in which the chariot rolls along; in עגל there are united the root-conceptions of that which is found (גל) and rolling (גל). Whether כּי, Pro 2:10, is the argumentative "because" (according to the versions and most interpreters) or "for" ("denn," J. H. Michaelis, Ewald, and others), is a question. That with כּי = "for" the subject would precede the verb, as at Pro 2:6, Pro 2:21, and Pro 1:32 (Hitzig), determines nothing, as Pro 2:18 shows. On the one hand, the opinion that כּי = "because" is opposed by the analogy of the כּי, Pro 2:6, following אז, Pro 2:5; the inequality between Pro 2:5-8 and Pro 2:9. if the new commencement, Pro 2:9, at once gives place to another, Pro 2:10; the relationship of the subject ideas in Pro 2:10, Pro 2:11, which makes Pro 2:11 unsuitable to be a conclusion from Pro 2:10. On the contrary, the promise not only of intellectual, but at the same time also of practical, insight into the right and the good, according to their whole compass and in their manifoldness, can be established or explained quite well as we thus read Pro 2:10, Pro 2:11 : For wisdom will enter (namely, to make it a dwelling-place, Pro 14:33; cf. Joh 14:23) into thine heart, and knowledge will do good to thy soul (namely, by the enjoyment which arises from the possession of knowledge, and the rest which its certainty yields). דּעת, γνῶσις, is elsewhere fem. (Psa 139:6), but here, as at Pro 8:10; Pro 14:6, in the sense of τὸ γνῶναι, is masc. In Pro 2:11 the contents of the אז תבין (Pro 2:9) are further explained. שׁמר על, of watching (for Job 16:16 is to be interpreted differently), is used only by our poet (here and at Pro 6:22). Discretion, i.e., the capacity of well-considered action, will hold watch over thee, take thee under protection; understanding, i.e., the capacity in the case of opposing rules to make the right choice, and in the matter of extremes to choose the right medium, will be bestowed upon thee. In תּנצרכּה, as in Psa 61:8; Psa 140:2, Psa 140:5; Deu 33:9, etc., the first stem letter is not assimilated, in order that the word may have a fuller sound; the writing כּה for ך is meant to affect the eye.

(Note: For the right succession of the accents here, see Torath Emeth, p. 49, 5; Accentuationssystem, xviii. 3.)

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Then--emphatic, in such a case.

righteousness . . . path--all parts of duty to God and man.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. Then shalt thou understand] He who is taught of God understands the whole law of justice, mercy, righteousness, and truth; God has written this on his heart. He who understands these things by books only is never likely to practise or profit by them.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment,.... This is another fruit and effect of the Gospel, and of a spiritual understanding of it; that besides the knowledge of God, and how to behave with reverence towards him, Pro 2:5; it leads men into a notion of doing that which is right and just among men; it gives them not only a theoretic but a practical understanding of justice, and a true judgment of what is right and wrong; or gives such an understanding thereof as that they practise it; for it teaches men to live soberly, righteously, and godly, Tit 2:11. It is not only a revelation and ministration of the righteousness of Christ as the only matter of a sinner's justification before God; and informs a man's judgment so that he can distinguish between truth and error, right and wrong, good and bad notions and practices; but it influences his actions, life, and conversation, and engages him to do works of righteousness from the best principles, upon the best motives, and with the best views;

and equity; yea, every good path; that is, so to understand equity, as to do that which is equitable between man and man; and to understand every good path which the word of God directs to, even all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, so as to walk in them; these things the Gospel acquaints men with, and urges them to observe: or the words may be rendered, either "the rectitude" or "equity of fall good paths", as the Syriac version; how just, and right, and plain, and equitable, everyone is, and therefore ought to be walked in; or "plainnesses", or "most plain", is or shall be "every good path" (r), to them that have a spiritual and experimental knowledge of the Gospel; and by it an understanding of their duty. One word signifies "plain" and "straight", and another "round" (s), and both are true of the path of righteousness; for though it is a circle of duty saints walk in, yet straight and plain.

(r) So Schmidt. (s) "complanationes", Schultens; "orbitam", Montanus; "ab rotundus", Gejerus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Then; when thou hast done thy part, expressed Pro 2:1-3, &c., and God in answer to thy desires hath given thee wisdom, Pro 2:6; or when it is with thee, as it follows, Pro 2:10. Righteousness, and judgment, and equity; all the parts of thy duty to man, as well as the fear of God, Pro 2:5, which contains all duties to God. These three words are used here, as also Pro 1:3, to signify the same thing. Every good path; the practice of all virtues and graces.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. Then — Referring back to Pro_2:1-4, from which the instructor started out with the same particle as at Pro_2:5. This verse is a summing up of vs.

5-8, and connects with Pro_1:3, where he states the object of his work to be, to impart clear, discriminating instructions in righteousness, judgment, and equities. (See note on Pro_1:3.)

Every good path — The practice of every virtue and grace. “The whole good track.” — Miller. The teacher has thus made a circle, so to speak, by which he has come around to his starting point.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then (za, az), repeated from ver. 5, introduces the second apodosis. As the former referred to God, so this appears to refer more especially to man, and thus we have stated the whole benefit, in its twofold aspect, which Wisdom confers on those who diligently seek her. It is not to be affirmed, however, that righteousness and judgment and equity refer exclusively to man; they must represent some aspects of our relationship to God, both from the meaning of the words themselves, and because the law which regulates our dealings and intercourse with man has its seat in the higher law of our relation to God. Righteousness, and judgment, and equity. These three words occur in the same collocation in Pro_1:3, which see. Yea, every good path. "Yea" does not occur in the original. The expression is a summarizing of the three previous conceptions, as if the teacher implied that all good paths are embraced by and included in "righteousness, and judgment, and equity;" but the term is also comprehensive in the widest degree. The literal translation is "every path of good" (bwOfAlGumAlK, cal-ma"gal-tov), i.e. every course of action of which goodness is the characteristic, or, as the Authorized Version, "every good path," the sense in which it was understood by St. Jerome, omnem orbitam bonam. The word here used for "path" is lGm (ma"gal), "the way in which the chariot rolls" (Delitzsch), and metaphorically a course of action, as in Pro_2:15 Pro_4:26.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then - When God in answer to thy desires hath given thee wisdom. Equity - All the parts of thy duty to man, as well as the fear of God.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

equity

fairness

every good path

A behavior that is wise and pleases Yahweh is spoken of as if it were a good path. AT: "ways to live that are pleasing to God" (See: Metaphor)

wisdom will come into your heart

Here "heart" represents a person's inner being. A person becoming wise is spoken of as if wisdom would enter into a person's heart. AT: "you will gain much wisdom" or "you will learn how to be truly wise" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)

pleasant to your soul

Here "soul" represents the whole person. AT: "pleasing to you" or "enjoyable to you" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

righteous

just

wise

heart

know

soul

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.