Proverbs 7 in MT and LXX: Form and Content

154
Tova Forti and Zipora Talshir
sentence. Finally, the MT is preferable since it lets ‘the corner’ occupy a stich
of its own. The corner is a catch word, taking us back to the corner of her
house where we left the witless lad wandering (v. 8). Indeed, in the
following verse she gets hold of him.
Verse 13
#< # 3( +
& * # " " +* *
.
The woman makes her bold move. She grasps and kisses him as if he were
the one and only she has been expecting, and audaciously begins her speech
of seduction. 59
The Hebrew has two pairs of paratactic verbal clauses. The translator restyles
them both: ( is replaced by a participial pattern:
“then, getting hold of him, she kissed him.” One pronoun serves him for
both and . As for the second part— —he interlaces its
two verbal components by turning into an adjectival phrase: “with
a shameless face she addressed him.” 60 The syntax changes, the contents
and message remain the same.
Verses 14–20: The Woman’s Words
The only initial characterization of the woman, except for her being
/ , was that her talk was smooth (v. 5 ( ). This is now
spelled out as her slick words are cited in detail—a mixture of shamming
piety (vv. 14–15), temptation and seduction (vv. 16–18), as well as practical
precaution (vv. 19–20). The summary further emphasizes the power of her
words (v. 21).
59 One may doubt whether, audacious as she may be, she is speaking to a complete
stranger.
60 Indeed, & ‘shameless’ stands for in Deut 28:50 and Dan 8:23, and
for in Prov 25:23. In Qoh 8:1 the Greek is phrased just like our text:
. Note the interplay between * and .