Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Gerry Folbre <gerry AT wetmountainvalley.us>]

K Randolph wrote:
> To All:
> ארח חיים פן־תפלס נעו מעגלתיה לא תדע׃
>
> Every time I read this, I stop and puzzle over it. And when I look at
> translations, it is obvious that I am not the only one.
>
> One option is that here we have a corrupted text.
>
> Another that came to me this morning is that פן PN does not mean “lest”
> rather it is the imperative of פנה PNH meaning “to face, turn towards”.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
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K Randolph:

Using the B-Hebrew “Transcription Guidelines” I have rendered a 
word-for-word translation of Proverbs 5:6

Proverbs 5:6

’RX = path  XYYM = life  PN lest {that not} TPLS = you constantly make 
smooth

N’W = they be unstable  M’GLTYH = her courses of action  L’ = not  TD’ = 
you know:

The closest exposition to what I have rendered above is found in the KJV:

5:6 “Lest thou (you) shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are 
moveable, /that/ thou (you) canst not know /them/” (KJV).

The Imperfect Piel 2^nd Person Singular Masculine Verb, TPLS, is 
literally translated “you constantly make smooth” {i.e. you continuously 
maintain the path of life).  Therefore, the preceding conjunction PN 
would be correctly rendered “lest” (i.e. “that not”), for it is a 
warning, {if you do not maintain the path of life you will unknowingly 
fall victim to unstable courses of action}. 

Gerry Folbre

P.S.  How are you able to display the New Hebrew Fonts?  I have tried, 
but they always turn into question marks = ???