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Proverbs 5:6

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:54 am
by kwrandolph
This verse has been difficult for me for some time, any thoughts?

ארח חיים פן-תפלס    נעו מעגלתיה לא תדע

The first step is to divide the verse into its two parts. By following poetic meter where each consonant is followed by a vowel, we get:

ארח חיים פן-תפלס    נעו

and:

מעגלתיה לא תדע

Then parse it out. The second part is easy, the subject is “you”, verb “should know”, object “her tracks (paths)” with a negation. The translation comes to “You should not know her paths.”

The first part: subject “you”, verb “should make level”, object ?? either “life’s traveling” or “its motion, moving”, but the פן throws a wrench into the whole thing.

If we look for the context, it appears that Proverbs 5:3–6 make up a section, there’s a clean break with a change of subject matter with the next verse, which changes the subject to “she” in both sections—“Lest she make level the movements for the travelers of life, she should not know her paths.” which, when connecting with the previous verse, she should not recognize that she is heading for death.

I’m thinking through my keyboard. Any thoughts?

Just my 2¢.

Karl W. Randolph.

Re: Proverbs 5:6

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 7:40 am
by ducky
Hello,

I'm thinking it is better to see the two verbs תפלס and תדע referring to the woman.
The reason for that is that the advice for the reader only starts in the next part - verse 7.
And this verse (6) belongs to the woman's description part which starts in verse 3.

The description tells about the woman that her way of life will eventually lead her to the to a bad place.

and so, this is the last verse that describes her in this part:
ארח חיים פן תפלס
נעו מעגלותיה לא תדע

These two parts of the verse use words that come together elsewhere:
פלס and מעגל, for example,
Isa. 26:7; מעגל צדיק תפלס
Pro. 5:21; וכל מעגלותיו מפלס
ַPro 4:26; פלס מעגל רגלך

The פלס comes also with נתיב in Ps. 78:50
יפלס נתיב לאפו

And here, it comes with מעגל which is the parallel word for the ארח in the first part of the verse.
And the word מעגל also comes as parallel to "path" in other verses, such as:
Isa. 26:7; ארח // מעגל
ארח לצדיק מישרים ישר, מעגל צדיק תפלס

Isa. 59:8; דרך // נתיב // מעגל
דרך שלום לא ידעו, ואין משפט במעגלותם, נתיבותיהם עקשו להם, כל דרך בה לא ידע שלום
and more... as Pr. 2:15 and Pr. 4:11.

ארח חיים פן תפלס
would mean that she doesn't want to straighten her way.
The word פן seems problematic to understand in its place, but it surely represents a "refusal".
This word comes a lot with a warning, As "beware פן you do this".
And so it seems to me that this is its role here. Only that it comes here without a first verb.
The idea would be as She tells herself to walk in her bad path and פן תפלס it. As keeping herself to not straighten her way.

And so, ארח חיים פן תפלס would simply be: She doesn't (want to) straighten her way.

נעו מעגלותיה
the word נעו sometimes represents an irregular movement or a not straight walk (as a drunk man's walk).
For example,
Isa. 24:20; נוע תנוע ארץ כשכור
Psa. 107:27 יחוגו וינועו כשכור
ְAnd so, we can look at it as if her walk eventually leads her to nowhere, like a drunk man's walk.

But it also comes with reference to "shake" as:
Am. 9:9; כאשר ינוע בכברה
Ne. 3:12; אם ינועו ונפלו על פי אוכל

And so, we can look at it as if her ways is shaking under her feet and about to collapse.

לא תדע
In Isa. 59:8 which I quoted above,
דרך שלום לא ידעו, ואין משפט במעגלותם, נתיבותיהם עקשו להם, כל דרך בה לא ידע שלום
there is also the idea of "not knowing" next to the idea of those who don't walk the straight path. and it can be used to understand the לא תדע in the Proverbs verse.
Like saying, לא תדע את דרך השלום which in the ַProverbs verse, it would be referring to לא תדע ארח חיים
And the understanding of this is simple as it is in Isa.

But I think it would be better to say that She would not know her ways (מעגלתיה) in the sense that she doesn't know where her way leads her, As it is said earlier in 2:18
ואל רפאים מעגלתיה - And surely, no one goes there willingly.

Re: Proverbs 5:6

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 7:48 pm
by Saboi
פן 'Lest' Joined to interrogative words only when the question expects a negative answer (Lt. Num).
- ארח חיים פן־תפלס : τρίβους αἰῶνος μὴ πλέξῃ?

פלס 'entangled, twine oneself round' (Lt. implicō)
נעו 'set in motion, one that sets agoing (Gk. κινέω, κινητά)
מעגלתי 'that which is rounded into a circle' (Gk. Κυκλώματα)
תדע 'come to know (Gk. γνώσῃ > γνώῃ > γώῃ > ῃγώ > תדע)

Re: Proverbs 5:6

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:29 am
by Isaac Fried
I like David Hunter's detailed and thoughtful analysis of Proverbs 5:6.
אֹרַח חַיִּים פֶּן תְּפַלֵּס נָעוּ מַעְגְּלֹתֶיהָ לֹא תֵדָע
KJV: "Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them."
NIV: "She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it"
The root פלס is of the root family
בלט, בלס
פלד, פלט, פלס, פלץ, פלש

and hence פלס like פלש is, 'spread, spread out, open'
This is ,then, how I read it
"Even as she navigates her way in life, her circumstances keep shifting, beyond your understanding"

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Re: Proverbs 5:6

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:50 pm
by Isaac Fried
פלס has also the sense of 'even, flat', as in the פֶּלֶס of Proverbs 16:11
פֶּלֶס וּמֹאזְנֵי מִשְׁפָּט
NIV: "Honest scales and balances"
In today's Hebrew:
מִפְלָס = מי-פלס is 'level', as in מפלס הכנרת, 'the water level of the Kinneret'
and
פֶּלֶס מים, 'water level'
So, possibly, in Proverbs 5:6 תְּפַלֵּס stands in contrast to מַעְגְּלֹתֶיהָ.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Re: Proverbs 5:6

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 5:58 pm
by Saboi
I just solved that word, the clue to the meaning is Psalm 58:2 with ידיכם תפלסון "Measure in your hands", פלס means δράξ "Handful, a measure" cf. drachma/דרכם (Nehemiah 7:71), מפלס.

Isaiah 40:12 - פלס "a measure" (δράξ), שקל "a weight in the balance" (σίγλος, σηκόω)

Re: Proverbs 5:6

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:23 pm
by Isaac Fried
Lee Mcgee says
I just solved that word, the clue to the meaning is Psalm 58:2 with ידיכם תפלסון "Measure in your hands", פלס means δράξ "Handful, a measure"
Unfortunately the "solution" of "Measure in your hands" does not seem to be supported by the common understanding of the text.
Ps. 58:3(2)
אַף בְּלֵב עוֹלֹת תִּפְעָלוּן בָּאָרֶץ חֲמַס יְדֵיכֶם תְּפַלֵּסוּן
NIV: "No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth"
with which I am in accord. Here תִּפְעָלוּן corresponds to תְּפַלֵּסוּן

Isaac Fried, Boston University