31:21 She is not 4 afraid of the snow 5 for her household,
for all of her household are clothed with scarlet. 6
1 tn Or “by drought.”
2 tn Heb “frost, ice,” though when contrasted with the חֹרֶב (khorev, “drought, parching heat”) of the day, “piercing cold” is more appropriate as a contrast.
3 tn Heb “and my sleep fled from my eyes.”
4 tn The first word of the twelfth line begins with ל (lamed), the twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
5 sn “Snow” is a metonymy of adjunct; it refers to the cold weather when snow comes. The verse is saying that this time is not a concern for the wise woman because the family is well prepared.
6 tn For the MT’s “scarlet” the LXX and the Latin have “two” or “double” – the difference being essentially the vocalization of a plural as opposed to a dual. The word is taken in the versions with the word that follows (“covers”) to means “double garments.” The question to be asked is whether scarlet would keep one warm in winter or double garments. The latter is the easier reading and therefore suspect.