Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Gerry Folbre <gerry AT wetmountainvalley.us>]

K Randolph wrote:
> David:
> One problem with the translation below, “ponder” is not in the Hebrew verse.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
> On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 11:52 PM, David Kolinsky <yishalom AT sbcglobal.net>wrote:
>
>   
> > Dear Karl:
> >
> > with regard to what you wrote:
> > 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 ?? PN does not mean ?lest?
> > rather it is the imperative of ??? PNH meaning ?to face, turn towards?.
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > I would suggest that PN is indeed related to PNH always.
> > PNH means: "to show different face, to face, to turn, to give s.thpriority, 
> > to turn away, to turn out, to prepare a surface, to clear out,
> > toempty out."
> >
> > PN when we think of it as meaning lest, more specifically and literally
> > means :
> >
> > "about facing from the case that"
> >
> > Therefore:
> >
> > Gen3:3 = And you shall not touch it about facing from the case that you
> > shall die
> >
> > Gen3:22 = And now, about facing from the case that he would send forth his
> > hand
> >
> > Gen11:4 = And we shall make for us a name, about facing from the case that
> > we would be scattered about the face of the earth
> >
> > Pr5:6 = About facing from the case that she would ponder a path of life,
> > her paths wander, she would not know it.
> >
> > David Kolinsky
> > Monterey, CA
> >     
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David & Karl:



The following does not follow the Source Text:



“Pr5:6 = About facing from the case that she would ponder a path of life,

> her paths wander, she would not know it.



At the conclusion of Pr. 5:6 the clause “not you know” presents us with 
a 2^nd person pronoun not a 3^rd person feminine pronoun:  Lamedh Aleph 
= *not* Tav Daleth Ayin = *you know*.  The 2^nd person pronoun here 
would be referring to the “son” to whom the father is speaking. 



The Piel {i.e. intensive} verbal clause Tav Pe Lamedh Samek = *you 
intensively make smooth* {referring to the “path of life”).  There is 
absolutely no 3^rd person feminine pronoun in this Piel verbal clause.  
The 2^nd person pronoun here would also be referring to the “son” to 
whom the father is speaking.



Karl wrote:

“The problem I have with this “translation” is that it does not follow word

for word the Hebrew text. It adds to the text.



I suspect that Karl was referring to the King James Version, and not my 
word-for-word translation of Pr. 5:6. 

I would suggest that examining some of the grammatical and lexicographic 
sources now available to us would help clear up some of the confusion 
regarding Pr. 5:6.

Gerry Folbre