Proverbs 2:9

Footnotes

1. 37 Heb “discern.” See preceding note on בִּין (bin) in .
2. 38 The phrase “every good way” functions appositionally to the preceding triad of righteous attributes, further explaining and defining them.
3. 39 Heb “every way of good.” The term טוֹב (tov, “good”) functions as an attributive genitive: “good way.”
4. 40 Heb “track”; , , “path.” The noun מַעְגַּל (ma’gal) is used (1) literally of “wagon-wheel track; firm path” and (2) figuratively (as a metaphor) to describe the course of life (Pss 17:5; 23:3; 140:6; Prov 2:9, 15, 18; 4:11, 26; 5:6, 21; Isa 26:7; 59:8; see 722–23 2; 2:609). It is related to the feminine noun עֲגָלָה (’agalah, “cart”) and the verb עָגַל (’agal) “to be round” (Qal) and “to roll” (Niphal). As a wagon-wheel cuts a deep track in a much traversed dirt road, so a person falls into routines and habits that reveal his moral character. In Proverbs the “paths” of the righteous are characterized by uprightness and integrity.