Proverbs 7:5-7

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 7:5 tn Heb “strange” (so KJV, ASV). See the note at 2:16, which is identical to this verse, except for using a synonym for the beginning verb.
2. Proverbs 7:5 tn Heb “strange woman.” This can be interpreted as a “wayward wife” (so NIV) or an “unfaithful wife” (so NCV). As discussed earlier, the designations “strange woman” and “foreign woman” could refer to Israelites who stood outside the community in their lawlessness and loose morals—an adulteress or wayward woman. H. Ringgren and W. Zimmerli, however, suggest that she is also a promoter of a pagan cult, but that is not entirely convincing (Spruche/Prediger [ATD], 19).
3. Proverbs 7:5 tn The Hiphil of חָלַק (khalaq, “to be smooth/slippery”) means “to use smooth words,” that is, to flatter (Pss 5:10; 36:3; Prov 2:16; 28:23; 29:5). The seductive speech of the temptress is as sweet as honey and smooth as oil (5:3).sn As the perfect verb of a dynamic root, the verb reports what she has done. She probably flatters every man who crosses her path, but this advice is given to the young man who would have on his mind what she has said to him. Part of succumbing to temptation often involves becoming narrowly focused on something perceived as pleasurable and blocking out any thought of the consequences. (Compare Eve in Gen 3.) The sage goes on to tell a story in order to make the trap and the consequences vivid.
4. Proverbs 7:5 tn The term “you” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.
5. Proverbs 7:7 tn Heb פֶּתִי (peti, “naive, simpleton”).sn This naive young man who lacked wisdom is one of the פֶּתִי (peti) simpletons, lacking keen judgment, one void of common sense (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT) or understanding (cf. KJV, ASV). He is young, inexperienced, featherbrained (so D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 75).
6. Proverbs 7:7 tc Heb “sons.” The MT reads בַבָּנִים (vabbanim) “among the sons,” perhaps meaning “young men” (cf. Song 2:3; HALOT 138, s. v. I בֵּן). Based on the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate, perhaps the text should read בַנְבָלִים (van^evalim, “among the fools”).
7. Proverbs 7:7 tn Heb “lad” or “youth.”
8. Proverbs 7:7 tn The term לֵב (lev, “mind, heart”) is used as a metonymy of association for what one does with the mind (thinking), and so refers to discernment, wisdom, good sense.