PROV 7:21 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 7:21–23

This paragraph gives the result of the woman’s flattering and persuasive words in 7:14–20. Some translations make this explicit at the beginning of verse 21. For example:

And so… (CEV)

So… (NLT)

7:21

The Hebrew has parallel parts that are similar in meaning. They form a chiasm. The parts in 7:21a occur in the opposite order from the parallel parts in 7:21b, as can be seen in the NIV below.In Hebrew the parallel parts also form a chiasm, but the order is opposite from the NIV order. In Hebrew the order is: “She led him astray with the abundance of her teaching; with the smoothness of her lips she seduced him.”

^21a With persuasive words she led him astray; (NIV)

^21b she seduced him with her smooth talk. (NIV)

If a chiasm is not natural in your language, you may need to reorder the parallel parts, as the BSB does. Here is another way to reorder the parts:

^21a she led him astray with persuasive words;

^21b she seduced him with her smooth talk.

7:21a–b

(combined/reordered)

¶ So by means of her persuasive “teaching” she persuaded him to leave the right path.

With her great persuasion…with her flattering lips: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as great persuasion usually means “learning” or “teaching” (see 1:5a–b, 4:2a), but it also has the connotation of persuasion.NIDOTTE (H4375), TWOT (#1124a), and BDB (#3948) all give “persuasion/persuasiveness” as one of the meanings of leqaḥ. But “teaching” is clearly the primary meaning. Fox (page 249) says that it connotes but does not denote persuasiveness. In 16:21 the BSB translates it as “instruction.” In describing the words of the immoral wife as “teaching” or “instruction,” the author is using irony.Fox (page 249) says the writer is using a “facetious tone,” and Cook (page 29) describes it as “keen irony.” Murphy (page 44) and Ross (page 941) also comment on the ironic use of “instruction/teaching.” He intends the reader to contrast the true teaching of Wisdom with the false or so-called “teaching” of the adulteress.

In some languages, it may be possible to convey this irony by putting the word “teaching/instruction” in quotes or by adding the words “so-called” or an expression with similar meaning. If it is not possible to convey the irony in the text, it is suggested that you add a footnote similar to the following:

The Hebrew word used here is the same as the word used in 1:5 and 16:21 (instruction/teaching). The writer intends us to understand that the teaching of the adulteress is not really teaching at all.

With her great persuasion: The Hebrew phrase that the BSB translates as With her great persuasion is more literally “with the abundance of her teaching/persuasion.” The NIV has left the word “abundance” implied. Some English versions, like the BSB, have made it explicit. For example:

With much seductive speech (NRSV)

You will need to decide whether to make this emphasis explicit in your translation.

flattering lips: The phrase flattering lips is literally “smoothness of her lips.” Here it is a figure of speech (metonymy) that refers to enticing or flattering words. For similar expressions, see the notes on 2:16b, 5:3a–b and 6:24a–b.

she lures him: The verb translated here as lures is used elsewhere in the OT of God “banishing” or “scattering” the nation of Israel into exile. In this verse, both verbs mean “to cause someone to go astray” or “to turn someone from the right path.”

7:21a

With her great persuasion she entices him;

¶ And so, with her so-called “instruction” she persuaded him to do wrong.

General Comment on 7:21a–b

In Hebrew poetry, the chiastic arrangement of parallel parts in parallel lines is used for poetic effect. In some languages, it may be ungrammatical or may sound unnatural to reorder parts of the sentence chiastically. If that is true in your language, use a natural word order, and try to preserve the beauty of the poetic form in other ways.

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

So it was that she caused him to turn from the right path by means of her flattery and persuasive “teaching.”

7:21b

with her flattering lips she lures him.

She made him leave the right path by her flattering words.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-tense

הִ֭טַּתּ⁠וּ & תַּדִּיחֶֽ⁠נּוּ

she,turns_him & she,impels_him

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: “She led him astray … she compelled him”

Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns

הִ֭טַּתּ⁠וּ & לִקְחָ֑⁠הּ & שְׂ֝פָתֶ֗י⁠הָ תַּדִּיחֶֽ⁠נּוּ

she,turns_him & her_persuasiveness_of,her & her/its=lips she,impels_him

She and her in this verse refer to the adulterous woman who spoke in [7:14–20](../07/14.md) and him refers to the young man whom she is seducing. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: “The adulterous woman led the young man astray … that woman’s teaching … that woman’s lips she compels that man”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

הִ֭טַּתּ⁠וּ

she,turns_him

Here Solomon speaks of the woman persuading the young man to do something as if she were causing him to change the direction in which he was walking. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “She persuaded him”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / possession

בְּ⁠רֹ֣ב לִקְחָ֑⁠הּ

with,the_greatness_of her_persuasiveness_of,her

Here Solomon is using the possessive form to refer to an abundant amount of instruction. This word is used elsewhere in Proverbs for good instruction, but here it is bad instruction. If your language would not use the possessive form for this, you could use a different expression. Alternate translation: “with her abundant amount of instruction”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

בְּ⁠חֵ֥לֶק שְׂ֝פָתֶ֗י⁠הָ

with,the_seductiveness_of her/its=lips

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

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

תַּדִּיחֶֽ⁠נּוּ

she,impels_him

Here Solomon implies that the adulterous woman compelled the young man to commit adultery with her. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “she compelled him to go with her” or “she compelled him to have sex with her”

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 7:21

Hebrew word order