PROV 9:14 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 9:1–18: Wisdom and Folly each urge people to follow them

This section summarizes the main themes of chapters 1–8. It contains parallel appeals by Wisdom (9:1–6) and Folly (9:13–18), both personified as women. Both Wisdom and Folly appeal to the same audience, inviting them to come and eat in their homes. Between these two appeals is a summary of two opposite ways to respond to Wisdom (9:7–12). In the center of this paragraph, 9:10 contains a restatement of the first line of 1:7. These key verses mark chapters 1 and 9 as the beginning and end of the first major division of the book.

Some other headings for this section are:

Invitations of Wisdom and of Folly (NIV)

Wisdom and Foolishness each give a feast

Being Wise or Foolish (NCV)

Paragraph 9:13–18

This paragraph contains an invitation from Woman Folly that is obviously parallel to Wisdom’s invitation in 9:1–6. Folly’s character and the location from which she gives her invitation are described in 9:13–15. Her invitation is found in 9:16–17. In 9:18, the author concludes the paragraph by describing the consequences of accepting Folly’s invitation.

When you translate this paragraph, pay careful attention to the wording that you used in 9:1–6 so that the parallels between Wisdom’s invitation and Folly’s invitation will be clear.

9:14

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^14aShe sits at the door of her house,

^14b on a seat in the heights of the city,

9:14a

She sits at the door of her house,

She sits at the doorway/entrance of her house,

9:14b

on a seat in the heights of the city,

at the highest part of the city,
which is located at the highest part of her city.

9:14a–b

She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the heights of the city: There are two ways to interpret the place where Folly sits:Scholars supporting the view of one location include Delitzsch, Hubbard, and Murphy. Those supporting two locations include Scott, UBS, and Whybray.

Folly sits in one place. Her house is located at the highest point of the city. For example:
She sits at the door of her house at the highest place in the city. (NCV) (BSB, NCV, NLT, NIV, NRSV, NJB, REB)
Folly sits in different places. She sits at her house, and she also sits at the highest point of the city. For example:
She sits at the door of her house or on a seat in the highest part of town (GNT) (GNT, CEV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with most versions. The Hebrew text here has no conjunctions, such as “and” or “or.” It seems likely that the first line describes Folly’s location in a general way. The second line further specifies the location.

sits at the door of her house, on a seat: These parallel phrases mean that Folly sits in the “doorway” of her house (GW). In some languages, this may be expressed in this way:

in front of her house (CEV)

The word translated as seat almost always refers to a throne or seat of honor. This is probably why the NJB has “on a throne” and GW has “enthroned.” However, most versions prefer the more general term seat or combine it with the verb sits in the first line, as in the NCV above.

For the phrase “in the heights of the city,” see the identical phrase in 9:3b.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / genericnoun

וְֽ֭⁠יָשְׁבָה לְ⁠פֶ֣תַח בֵּיתָ֑⁠הּ עַל־כִּ֝סֵּ֗א מְרֹ֣מֵי קָֽרֶת

and,she_sits to,the_doorway_of her_house_of,her on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in seat high_places_of city

If you translated the phrase “woman of stupidity” as a plural form in the previous verse, then you should use plural forms in this verse. Alternate translation: “And they sit at the opening of their houses, on seats by the heights of the city”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

לְ⁠פֶ֣תַח בֵּיתָ֑⁠הּ

to,the_doorway_of her_house_of,her

See how you translated this phrase in [5:8](../05/08.md).

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

עַל־כִּ֝סֵּ֗א

on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in seat

This clause could refer to: (1) the specific location of the opening of her house. Alternate translation: “which is on a seat” (2) a second location where she sits. Alternate translation: “or on a seat”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

מְרֹ֣מֵי קָֽרֶת

high_places_of city

See how you translated this phrase in [9:3](../09/03.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 9:14