Proverbs 4:11

Footnotes

1. 23 The form הֹרֵתִיךָ (horetikha) is the Hiphil perfect with a suffix from the root יָרָה (yarah, “to guide”). This and the parallel verb should be taken as instantaneous perfects, translated as an English present tense: The sage is now instructing or pointing the way. The verb יָרָה (yarah) means “to teach; to instruct; to guide.” This is from the same root as the Hebrew word for “law” (torah). See G. R. Driver, “Hebrew Notes,” 1 (1951): 241–50; and J. L. Crenshaw, “The Acquisition of Knowledge in Israelite Wisdom Literature,” 7 (1986): 9.
2. 24 Heb “in the tracks of uprightness”; cf. “on straightforward paths.” Both the verb and the object of the preposition make use of the idiom—the verb is the Hiphil perfect from דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, related to “road; way”) and the object is “wagon tracks, paths.”