Amsal 5:6-11

5:6 Lest ¹  she should make level the path leading to life, ² 

her paths are unstable ³  but she does not know it. ⁴ 

5:7 So now, children, ⁵  listen to me;

do not turn aside from the words I speak. ⁶ 

5:8 Keep yourself ⁷  far ⁸  from her,

and do not go near the door of her house,

5:9 lest you give your vigor ⁹  to others

and your years to a cruel person,

5:10 lest strangers devour ¹⁰  your strength, ¹¹ 

and your labor ¹²  benefit ¹³  another man’s house.

5:11 And at the end of your life ¹⁴  you will groan ¹⁵ 

when your flesh and your body are wasted away. ¹⁶ 

[5:6]  ¹ tn The particle פֶּן (pen) means “lest” (probably from “for the aversion of”). It occurs this once, unusually, preceding the principal clause (BDB 814 s.v.). It means that some action has been taken to avert or avoid what follows. She avoids the path of life, albeit ignorantly.

[5:6]  ² tn Heb “the path of life.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “of life”) functions as a genitive of direction (“leading to”).

[5:6]  ³ sn The verb נוּעַ (nua’) means “to quiver; to wave; to waver; to tremble”; cf. KJV “her ways are moveable”; NAB “her paths will ramble”; NLT “She staggers down a crooked trail.” The ways of the adulterous woman are unstable (BDB 631 s.v.).

[5:6]  ⁴ sn The sadder part of the description is that this woman does not know how unstable her life is, or how uneven. However, Thomas suggests that it means, “she is not tranquil.” See D. W. Thomas, “A Note on לא תדע in Proverbs v 6,” JTS 37 (1936): 59.

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons.”

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).

[5:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “your way.”

[5:8]  ⁸ sn There is a contrast made between “keep far away” (הַרְחֵק, harkheq) and “do not draw near” (וְאַל־תִּקְרַב, vÿ’al-tiqrav).

[5:9]  ⁹ sn The term הוֹד (hod, “vigor; splendor; majesty”) in this context means the best time of one’s life (cf. NIV “your best strength”), the full manly vigor that will be wasted with licentiousness. Here it is paralleled by “years,” which refers to the best years of that vigor, the prime of life. Life would be ruined by living this way, or the revenge of the woman’s husband would cut it short.

[5:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “are sated, satisfied.”

[5:10]  ¹¹ tn The word כֹּחַ (coakh, “strength”) refers to what laborious toil would produce (so a metonymy of cause). Everything that this person worked for could become the property for others to enjoy.

[5:10]  ¹² tn “labor, painful toil.”

[5:10]  ¹³ tn The term “benefit” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[5:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “at your end.”

[5:11]  ¹⁵ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive; it is equal to a specific future within this context.

[5:11]  sn The verb means “to growl, groan.” It refers to a lion when it devours its prey, and to a sufferer in pain or remorse (e.g., Ezek 24:23).

[5:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the finishing of your flesh and your body.” The construction uses the Qal infinitive construct of כָּלָה (calah) in a temporal clause; the verb means “be complete, at an end, finished, spent.”