This verse expresses the purposes or results of the preceding admonition. The first is, that thou mayest regard discretion (Hebrew, lishmor m'zimmoth); literally, to guard reflection; i.e. in other words, that thou mayest maintain thoughtfulness, observe counsel, set a proper guard or control over thy thoughts, and so restrain them within proper and legitimate limits, or form such resolutions which, being well considered and prudential, may result in prudent conduct.
The word m'zimmoth, however, does not travel beyond the sphere of what is conceived in the mind, and consequently does not mean conduct (as Holden conceives), except in a secondary sense, as that thoughts and plans are the necessary preliminaries to action and conduct.
Muffet, in loc; explains, "that thou mayest not conceive in mind any evil or vanity." The word m'zimmoth is the plural of m'zimmmah, which occurs in Proverbs 1:4. This word generally means any plan, project, device, either in a good or bad sense.
In the latter sense it is applied to intrigue and deceitful conduct, as in Proverbs 24:8. It is here used in a good sense. Indeed, Delitzsch remarks that the use of the word in a good sense is peculiar to the introductory part of the Proverbs (ch.
1-9.). The Vulgate renders. "That thou mayest guard thy thoughts or reflection (ut custodias cogitationes)." So the LXX; ἵνα φυλάξῃς ἔννοιαν ἀγαθήν, "That thou mayest guard good reflection," the adjective ἀγαθή being introduced to note the sense in which the ἔννοια, i.
e. act of thinking, properly, is to be understood. The prefix לִ ("to") before shamar, "to guard," in lishmor, expresses the purpose, as in Proverbs 1:5; Proverbs 2:2, et alia. The second end in view is, that thy lips may keep knowledge; literally, and thy lips shall keep knowledge.
Those lips keep or preserve knowledge which literally retain the instruction of Wisdom (Zockler), or which allow nothing to pass them which does not proceed from the knowledge of God (Delitzsch), and which, when they speak, give utterance to sound wisdom.
The meaning may be illustrated by Psalms 17:3, "I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress." The same expression occurs in Malachi 2:7, "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge," i.e. preserve and give utterance to it.
Where "the lips keep knowledge," there they are protected against the lips of the strange woman, i.e. against her allurements, because they will be fortified with purity. Thy lips; s'phatheyka is the dual of the feminine noun saphah, "a lip."
The teacher designedly uses this word instead of "thy heart" (cf. Proverbs 3:1), because of the contrast which he has in mind, and which be produces in the next verse. The LXX; Vulgate. and Arabic add, "Attend not to the deceitful woman," which Houbigant and Schleusner think is required by the context.
The addition, however, is without authority (Holden).