Proverbs 7:7

7:7 and I saw among the naive –

I discerned among the youths ¹  –

a young man ²  who lacked wisdom. ³ 

Proverbs 7:22-23

7:22 Suddenly he went ⁴  after her

like an ox that goes to the slaughter,

like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare ⁵ 

7:23 till an arrow pierces his liver ⁶  –

like a bird hurrying into a trap,

and he does not know that it will cost him his life. ⁷ 

Proverbs 9:16-18

9:16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here,”

she says to those who lack understanding. ⁸ 

9:17 “Stolen waters ⁹  are sweet,

and food obtained in secret ¹⁰  is pleasant!”

9:18 But they do not realize ¹¹  that the dead ¹²  are there,

that her guests are in the depths of the grave. ¹³ 

Proverbs 29:1

29:1 The one who stiffens his neck ¹⁴  after numerous rebukes ¹⁵ 

will suddenly be destroyed ¹⁶  without remedy. ¹⁷ 

[7:7]  ¹ tn Heb “sons.”

[7:7]  ² tn Heb “lad” or “youth.”

[7:7]  ³ tn Heb “heart.”

[7:22]  ⁴ tn The participle with “suddenly” gives a more vivid picture, almost as if to say “there he goes.”

[7:22]  ⁵ tn The present translation follows R. B. Y. Scott (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes [AB], 64). This third colon of the verse would usually be rendered, “fetters to the chastening of a fool” (KJV, ASV, and NASB are all similar). But there is no support that עֶכֶס (’ekhes) means “fetters.” It appears in Isaiah 3:16 as “anklets.” The parallelism here suggests that some animal imagery is required. Thus the ancient versions have “as a dog to the bonds.”

[7:23]  ⁶ sn The figure of an arrow piercing the liver (an implied comparison) may refer to the pangs of a guilty conscience that the guilty must reap along with the spiritual and physical ruin that follows (see on these expressions H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament).

[7:23]  ⁷ tn The expression that it is “for/about/over his life” means that it could cost him his life (e.g., Num 16:38). Alternatively, the line could refer to moral corruption and social disgrace rather than physical death – but this would not rule out physical death too.

[9:16]  ⁸ tn This expression is almost identical to v. 4, with the exception of the addition of conjunctions in the second colon: “and the lacking of understanding and she says to him.” The parallel is deliberate, of course, showing the competing appeals for those passing by.

[9:17]  ⁹ sn The offer is not wine and meat (which represented wisdom), but water that is stolen. The “water” will seem sweeter than wine because it is stolen – the idea of getting away with something exciting appeals to the baser instincts. In Proverbs the water imagery was introduced earlier in 5:15-19 as sexual activity with the adulteress, which would seem at the moment more enjoyable than learning wisdom. Likewise bread will be drawn into this analogy in 30:20. So the “calling out” is similar to that of wisdom, but what is being offered is very different.

[9:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “bread of secrecies.” It could mean “bread [eaten in] secret places,” a genitive of location; or it could mean “bread [gained through] secrets,” a genitive of source, the secrecies being metonymical for theft. The latter makes a better parallelism in this verse, for bread (= sexually immoral behavior) gained secretly would be like stolen water.

[9:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he does not know.”

[9:18]  ¹² sn The “dead” are the Rephaim, the “shades” or dead persons who lead a shadowy existence in Sheol (e.g., Prov 2:18-19; Job 3:13-19; Ps 88:5; Isa 14:9-11). This approximates an “as-if” motif of wisdom literature: The ones ensnared in folly are as good as in Hell. See also Ptah-hotep’s sayings (ANET 412-414).

[9:18]  ¹³ tc The LXX adds to the end of v. 18: “But turn away, linger not in the place, neither set your eye on her: for thus will you go through alien water; but abstain from alien water, drink not from an alien fountain, that you may live long, that years of life may be added to you.”

[29:1]  ¹⁴ tn The idiom “to harden the neck” (מַקְשֶׁה־עֹרֶף, maqsheh-’oref) is the idea of resisting the rebukes and persisting in obstinacy (e.g., Exod 32:9). The opposite of a “stiff neck” would be the bending back, i.e., submission.

[29:1]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew construction is אִישׁ תּוֹכָחוֹת (’ish tokhakhot, “a man of rebukes”), meaning “a man who has (or receives) many rebukes.” This describes a person who is deserving of punishment and who has been given many warnings. The text says, then, “a man of rebukes hardening himself.”

[29:1]  ¹⁶ sn The stubborn person refuses to listen; he will suddenly be destroyed when the calamity strikes (e.g., Prov 6:15; 13:18; 15:10).

[29:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “healing” (NRSV).