Proverbs 6:28-30

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 6:28 tn The particle indicates that this is another rhetorical question like that in v. 27.
2. Proverbs 6:29 tn Heb “thus is the one.”
3. Proverbs 6:29 tn Heb “approaches.” The verb בּוֹא (boʾ) with the preposition אֶל (ʾel) means “come to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
4. Proverbs 6:29 tn Heb “anyone who touches her will not.”
5. Proverbs 6:29 sn The verb “touches” is intended here to be a euphemism for illegal sexual contact (e.g., Gen 20:6).
6. Proverbs 6:29 tn Heb “will be exempt from”; NASB, NLT “will not go unpunished.”
7. Proverbs 6:29 tn The verb is יִנָּקֶה (yinnaqeh), the Niphal imperfect from נָקָה (naqah, “to be empty; to be clean”). From it we get the adjectives “clean,” “free from guilt,” “innocent.” The Niphal has the meanings (1) “to be cleaned out” (of a plundered city; e.g., Isa 3:26), (2) “to be clean; to be free from guilt; to be innocent” (Ps 19:14), (3) “to be free; to be exempt from punishment” [here], and (4) “to be free; to be exempt from obligation” (Gen 24:8).
8. Proverbs 6:30 tn Heb “they do not despise.”
9. Proverbs 6:30 tn Heb “himself” or “his life.” Since the word נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally “soul”) refers to the whole person, body and soul, and since it has a basic idea of the bundle of appetites that make up a person, the use here for satisfying his hunger is appropriate.