Proverbs 1:4

4. Having thus stated the object in general terms, the teacher proceeds to a more specific setting forth of what it is, or of what he anticipates in respect to certain classes. First, as to the young and untaught, those who are as yet untrained to thought and study; and secondly, as to those of greater maturity and reflection. To the פתאים , pethaim, simple (open) ones, novices, unskilled and inexperienced, he hopes to be able to give ערמה , ‘hormah, subtilty, expertness, shrewdness, to train them to mental activity and acumen; to the young man, נער , na’har, youth, standing in parallelism with pethaim, and meaning persons of the same class, he will impart knowledge and discretion. Several of the terms in this verse are sometimes used in a good, and sometimes in a bad sense. They are supposed to be used in a good sense here. Perhaps pethaim may be employed here in a middle sense, unthinking, unsophisticated, undisciplined. Such novices, or freshmen, he proposes to teach how to reflect properly, to drill and train them to the art of right thinking and right acting.