Texts in Conversation
Proverbs 6:3 urges quick action to escape the results of an impulsive promise, telling the reader to humble themselves before their neighbor. The Greek translation adds the phrase “the hands of evil,” which is not in the Hebrew text and likely reflects the translator’s habit of stressing moral contrasts.
Share:
Proverbs 6:3
Hebrew Bible
1 My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor, if you have become a guarantor for a stranger, 2 if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered and have been caught by the words you have spoken, 3 then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and appeal firmly to your neighbor. 4 Permit no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
LXX Proverbs 6:3
Septuagint
1 Son, if you give surety for your friend, you will surrender your hand to the enemy. 2 For one’s own lips are a strong trap for a man, and he is conquered by the lips of his own mouth. 3 Do, son, what I command you and save yourself; for you have come into the hands of evil things through your friend; go without failing, and provoke even your friend for whom you gave surety. 4 Do not give your eyes sleep, or let your eyelids fall asleep,
Date: 1st Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Tags:
Search:
Notes and References
"... The translator of Proverbs, unlike many of his Septuagintal colleagues, had a marked interest in exegeting his source text ... corresponding to an emphasis on righteousness and the righteous is a commensurate highlighting of unrighteousness and the unrighteous. Proverbs 1:18 amplifies this negative side of the equation, and verse 19 pointedly refers to lawless deeds and impiety. In verse 22 the innocent are linked to righteousness, but the fools are described as impious. In verse 28 the subject is made explicit by the addition of “evil people”. Madame wisdom is described in 3:15, where (contra the Masoretic text) it is also stated that nothing evil will withstand her. Proverbs 6:3 introduces “the hands of evil” without explicit warrant in the Hebrew. 8:13 shows that the translator’s ideological interests are capable of producing literary felicity, whether by inadvertence or design. By rendering (“perverted speech”) as (“perverse ways of evil people”), he creates the parallel phrases (13b) and (13c), which includes an end rhyme ..."
Pietersma, Albert, and Benjamin G. Wright
A New English Translation of the Septuagint
(pp. 621-622) Oxford University Press, 2007
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.