PROV 6:24 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 6:20–35: Ninth lesson: If you commit adultery, you will be severely punished

This lesson may be summarized as follows: The son should heed his parents’ teaching, because it will keep him from the dangers of adultery (6:20–24). He should strictly avoid being tempted by another man’s wife. An affair with such a woman will have inevitable and disastrous consequences (6:25–33), resulting from the jealous fury of the husband (6:34–35).

Some other headings for this section are:

Warning Against Adultery (NIV)

Avoid adultery

More Advice About Avoiding Adultery (GW)

The terrible consequences of committing adultery

Paragraph 6:20–35

In these notes, this section forms a single paragraph (as in the NRSV). If a long paragraph like this is not natural in your language, you may want to make paragraph breaks as in the section summary above. Some other ways to divide the paragraphs are:

6:20–26, 27–35 (GNT)
6:20–22, 23–29, 30–35 (CEV)
6:20–29, 30–35 (NIV)

Divide the paragraphs in a way that fits the natural patterns of your language.

6:24

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning. Although both lines express the same general idea, the second line adds more details about the “immoral woman.”

^24a to keep you from the evil woman,

^24b from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

6:24a–b

(combined/reordered)

Specifically, they will protect you^(sing) so that evil women who commit adultery will not be able to seduce you with their flattery.

to keep you from: Other ways to translate this phrase are:

to preserve from (RSV)

protect from (CEV)

It expresses the reason why the young man should obey good teaching: this teaching will prevent him from getting involved with an adulterous woman.

the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress: In Hebrew, the phrase the evil woman is literally “woman of evil.”There is a textual difference here. The MT has “woman of evil.” It is followed by BSB, NIV, RSV, GNT, NJB, NCV, NLT, and NET, and it is supported by UBS, McKane, Murphy, and Delitzsch. The LXX has “wife of another,” which is a more common parallel to line 2 and involves the repointing of only one vowel. It is followed by CEV, NRSV, REB, NAB, and it is supported by Ross, Fox, and Scott. BHS thinks that the original text for both MT and LXX is “strange woman.” It is supported by Toy and possibly Whybray. It refers to bad or immoral women in general, not to a specific woman. For example:

bad women (GNT)

The parallel phrase the adulteress is one word in Hebrew. Other ways to translate it are:

adulterous woman (NLT96)

another man’s unfaithful wife (NCV)

The same word is used in 2:16b.

6:24a

to keep you from the evil woman,

In this way, you^(sing) will be able to keep away from bad women.

6:24b

from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

You^(sing) will not be enticed/seduced by the alluring/flattering talk of a wife who is unfaithful to her husband.

the smooth tongue of the adulteress: This phrase is a figure of speech (metonymy) that refers to the flattering words used by adulterous women in order to seduce someone. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

the pleasing words of another man’s unfaithful wife (NCV)

the seductive words of other men’s wives (GNT)

the flattering words of someone else’s wife (CEV)

General Comment on 6:24a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel lines. For example:

They will protect you from the flattery of the immoral wives of other men.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-goal

לִ֭⁠שְׁמָרְ⁠ךָ

to,keep,you

Here, to indicates that what follows is the purpose for the “commandments,” “law,” and “rebukes of instruction” referred to in the previous verse. Use a connector in your language that indicates a purpose. Alternate translation: “for the purpose of keeping you”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / possession

מֵ⁠אֵ֣שֶׁת רָ֑ע

from,a_woman_of evil

Here Solomon is using the possessive form to describe a woman who is characterized by evil. If your language would not use the possessive form for this, you could use a different expression. Alternate translation: “from an evil woman”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

מֵֽ֝⁠חֶלְקַ֗ת לָשׁ֥וֹן

from,smoothness_of tongue

Here Solomon refers to the seductive speech of an adulterous woman as if it were the smoothness of the tongue. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “from the seductive speech of”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

נָכְרִיָּֽה

adulteress

See how you translated the same use of foreign woman in [2:16](../02/16.md).

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.

OET interlinear PROV 6:24

Hebrew word order