Proverbs 4:8

4:8 Esteem her highly ¹  and she will exalt you;

she will honor you if you embrace her.

Proverbs 5:20

5:20 But why should you be captivated, ²  my son, by an adulteress,

and embrace the bosom of a different woman? ³ 

[4:8]  ¹ tn The verb is the Pilpel imperative from סָלַל (salal, “to lift up; to cast up”). So the imperative means “exalt her; esteem her highly; prize her.”

[5:20]  ² tn In the interrogative clause the imperfect has a deliberative nuance.

[5:20]  ³ tn Heb “foreigner” (so ASV, NASB), but this does not mean that the woman is non-Israelite. This term describes a woman who is outside the moral boundaries of the covenant community – she is another man’s wife, but since she acts with moral abandonment she is called “foreign.”