12:24 He deprives the leaders of the earth 1
of their understanding; 2
he makes them wander
in a trackless desert waste. 3
31:7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way,
if my heart has gone after my eyes, 4
or if anything 5 has defiled my hands,
31:9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, 6
1 tn Heb “the heads of the people of the earth.”
2 tn Heb “heart.”
3 tn The text has בְּתֹהוּ לֹא־דָרֶךְ (bÿtohu lo’ darekh): “in waste – no way,” or “in a wasteland [where there is] no way,” thus, “trackless” (see the discussion of negative attributes using לֹא [lo’] in GKC 482 §152.u).
4 sn The meaning is “been led by what my eyes see.”
5 tc The word מֻאוּם (mu’um) could be taken in one of two ways. One reading is to represent מוּם (mum, “blemish,” see the Masorah); the other is for מְאוּמָה (mÿ’umah, “anything,” see the versions and the Kethib). Either reading fits the passage.
7 tn Gordis notes that the word פֶּתַח (petakh, “door”) has sexual connotations in rabbinic literature, based on Prov 7:6ff. (see b. Ketubbot 9b). See also the use in Song 4:12 using a synonym.