Proverbs 14:1

14:1 Every wise woman ¹  builds ²  her household, ³ 

but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

Proverbs 24:3-4

24:3 By ⁴  wisdom a house is built, ⁵ 

and through understanding it is established;

24:4 by knowledge its rooms are filled

with all kinds of precious and pleasing treasures.

Proverbs 24:2

24:2 for their hearts contemplate violence,

and their lips speak harm. ⁶ 

Proverbs 7:16

7:16 I have spread my bed with elegant coverings, ⁷ 

with richly colored fabric ⁸  from Egypt.

Proverbs 7:26

7:26 for she has brought down ⁹  many fatally wounded,

and all those she has slain are many. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 7:24-27

Hearing and Doing

7:24 “Everyone ¹¹  who hears these words of mine and does them is like ¹²  a wise man ¹³  who built his house on rock. 7:25 The rain fell, the flood ¹⁴  came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock. 7:26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 7:27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!” ¹⁵ 

[14:1]  ¹ tn Heb “wise ones of women.” The construct phrase חַכְמוֹת נָשִׁים (khakhmot nashim) features a wholistic genitive: “wise women.” The plural functions in a distributive sense: “every wise woman.” The contrast is between wise and foolish women (e.g., Prov 7:10-23; 31:10-31).

[14:1]  ² tn The perfect tense verb in the first colon functions in a gnomic sense, while the imperfect tense in the second colon is a habitual imperfect.

[14:1]  ³ tn Heb “house.” This term functions as a synecdoche of container (= house) for contents (= household, family).

[24:3]  ⁴ tn The preposition בְּ (bet, “by; through”) in these two lines indicates means.

[24:3]  ⁵ sn The twentieth saying, vv. 3-4, concerns the use of wisdom for domestic enterprises. In Prov 9:1 wisdom was personified as a woman who builds a house; but here the emphasis is primarily on the building – it is a sign of security and prosperity (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 442). One could still make a secondary application from this line for a household or “family” (cf. NCV, which sees this as a reference to the family).

[24:2]  ⁶ sn This nineteenth saying warns against evil associations. Evil people are obsessed with destruction and trouble. See on this theme 1:10-19; 3:31 and 23:17. D. Kidner observes that a close view of sinners is often a good antidote to envying them (Proverbs [TOTC], 153).

[7:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “with spreads.” The sentence begins with the cognate accusative: “with spreads I have spread my bed.” The construction enhances the idea – she has covered her bed.

[7:16]  ⁸ tn The feminine noun means “dark-hued stuffs” (BDB 310 s.v. חֲטֻבוֹת). The form is a passive participle from a supposed root II חָטַב (khatav), which in Arabic means to be of a turbid, dusky color mixed with yellowish red. Its Aramaic cognate means “variegated”; cf. NAB “with brocaded cloths of Egyptian linen.” BDB’s translation of this colon is unsatifactory: “with dark hued stuffs of yarn from Egypt.”

[7:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “she has caused to fall.”

[7:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “numerous” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT) or “countless.”

[7:24]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Therefore everyone.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[7:24]  ¹² tn Grk “will be like.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[7:24]  ¹³ tn Here and in v. 26 the Greek text reads ἀνήρ (anhr), while the parallel account in Luke 6:47-49 uses ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") in vv. 48 and 49.

[7:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the rivers.”

[7:27]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and great was its fall.”