PROV 7:10 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 7:1–27: Tenth lesson: Here is an example of a young man who was seduced by a married woman

This lesson is another warning to avoid adultery. It begins with an appeal that the son pay attention to his father’s advice. This advice will protect him from being seduced by an adulteress (7:1–5). The main part of the lesson has the form of a first person narrative. The narrator tells how he observed a young man being seduced (7:6–23). First the story focuses on the young man (7:6–9), then it describes the adulteress (7:10–12) and her enticing words (7:13–20). Finally it tells how the young man yielded to the temptation (7:21–23). The lesson concludes with an appeal that the son follow his father’s advice rather than be seduced by the adulteress, because involvement with her will lead to death (7:24–27).

Some other headings for this section are:

Warning Against the Adulteress (NIV)

The story about an adulteress who tempted a young man

Paragraph 7:10–12

The adulterous woman’s appearance is described in 7:10. In 7:11–12, there is a description of the woman’s character and her typical activities. This one woman’s character and activities may be common to immoral wives in general.

7:10

In this verse, the two phrases in 7:10b give more information about the woman that is mentioned in 7:10a.

7:10a

Then a woman came out to meet him,

¶ Right then this/that woman came out to meet him.
¶ At that moment, the woman approached him.

Then: The Hebrew phrase that the BSB translates as Then is literally “And look.” This phrase introduces a new development in the story and makes the action seem more dramatic. Use a natural way in your language to accomplish this purpose.

a woman came out to meet him: The phrase that the BSB translates as a woman came out to meet is literally “a woman to meet him.” In the context of 7:15, this phrase implies that the woman purposely came to meet him. The BSB has supplied the information that she came out (of her house) from 7:15. Other versions leave this information implied. For example:

the woman approached him (NCV)

a woman came to meet him (REB)

The phrase a woman may be misleading to the reader, because this is not just any woman. You may need to specify “the/this/that woman” so your readers understand that this is the same woman referred to in 7:8.

7:10b

with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.

She was wearing clothes like a prostitute, and only she herself knew her true plans/motives.
Her appearance was like that of a prostitute. She did not make known what she was really thinking.

with the attire of a harlot: We do not know how prostitutes dressed in Old Testament times. All we know from this verse is that the woman was dressed in such a way that the young man realized she was offering him the chance to have sex with her.

and cunning of heart: The phrase that the BSB translates as and cunning of heart is literally “guarded of heart.” This probably means that she keeps her real plans and motives to herself.The verb used here (naṣar) is semantically equivalent to šamar “keep, guard” (NIDOTTE, H5915). Ross, Fox, and Kidner all take this expression to mean that the woman keeps her plans to herself. UBS and Whybray understand that she conceals her activities from her husband, but that seems self-evident. It seems preferable to leave the object or nature of her plans unspecified. Probably she keeps her real thoughts hidden from both her husband and those whom she seduces. This meaning may be expressed as:

planning to trick him (NCV)

with an ulterior motive (GW)

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-tense

וְ⁠הִנֵּ֣ה

and=see/lo/see!

Here Solomon uses the present tense in past narration in order to call attention to a development in the story. If it would not be natural to do that in your language, you could use the past tense. Alternate translation: “And behold, there was”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

וְ⁠הִנֵּ֣ה

and=see/lo/see!

Here, behold is a term meant to focus the attention of the reader on what is about to happen next in the story. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could use some emphatic term or expression in your language that would have this same effect. Alternate translation: “And pay attention to this: there was”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

לִ⁠קְרָאת֑⁠וֹ

to,meet,him

Solomon is leaving out some of the words that in many languages a clause would need in order to be complete. You could supply these words from the context if it would be clearer in your language. Alternate translation: “who came out to meet him”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

וּ⁠נְצֻ֥רַת לֵֽב

and,guarded_of heart

The phrase guarded of heart is an idiom that refers to hiding one’s intentions or plans from other people. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an idiom from your language or express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “and being wily of heart” or “and she planned to deceive someone”

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.