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Thoughts on Structure and Translation in Proverbs 2

March 31, 2026 by Brian Leave a Comment

Proverbs 2 consists de facto of a single sentence that can be divided into six smaller units. The text has a conditional structure that, following the invocation “my son” (בְּנִי), begins with a protasis introduced by אִם (“if”), followed by two apodoses and three concluding statements, the first two of which have an identical structure, being introduced by the preposition לְ (“to”) and an infinitive of the verb נצל hiphil (“to save”). The last concluding statement constitutes the focal point   p 103  of the text; it is introduced by לְמַעַן (“so that”) and contains a justification introduced by כִּי (“for”):

(I)vv. 1–4Protasis (introduced by אִם, “if”)
(II)vv. 5–8First apodosis (introduced by אָז, “then”)
(III)vv. 9–11Second, shorter apodosis (also introduced by אָז, “then”)
(IV)vv. 12–15First purpose (introduced by לְהַצִּילְךָ, “in order to save you”; לְ + inf.)
(V)vv. 16–19Second purpose (introduced by לְהַצִּילְךָ, “in order to save you”)
(VI)vv. 20–22Concluding statement, introduced by לְמַעַן (“so that”) and followed by a justification introduced by כִּי (“for”)

Bernd U. Schipper, Proverbs 1–15 (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2019), 102–103.

The ESV obscures the parallelism of verses 12 and 16 with its translation of verse 12. It also translates כִּ֤י as for in v. 18, which does not make good sense.

The LSB translates כִּ֤י consistently as for, which does not make good sense in vv. 3 and 18.

The NIV 2011 does the best job of translating כִּ֤י, in this chapter, recognizing when for is the best translation (vv. 6, 10, 22) and when indeed or surely make better sense (vv. 3, 18, respectively).

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