Proverbs 9:15-18

9:15 calling out ¹  to those who are passing by her ²  in the way, ³ 

who go straight ⁴  on their way.

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

she says to those who lack understanding. ⁵ 

9:17 “Stolen waters ⁶  are sweet,

and food obtained in secret ⁷  is pleasant!”

9:18 But they do not realize ⁸  that the dead ⁹  are there,

that her guests are in the depths of the grave. ¹⁰ 

[9:15]  ¹ tn The infinitive construct “calling out” functions epexegetically in the sentence, explaining how the previous action was accomplished.

[9:15]  ² tn The term “her” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[9:15]  ³ tn The noun is a genitive of location after the construct participle. Its parallel word is also an adverbial accusative of location.

[9:15]  ⁴ tn The participle modifies the participle in the first colon. To describe the passers-by in this context as those “who go straight” means that they are quiet and unwary.

[9:16]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “he does not know.”

[9:18]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.”