Prov 21:6:
and snares of death. The
Masoretic Text reads mevaqshey mawet, “seekers of death,” a problematic
reading because the phrase does not accord well with “vanished breath” and the
plural creates a syntactic incoherence. The translation follows a reading shown
in some variant manuscripts, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate: umoqshey mawet,
“and snares of death.” (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New
York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:416)
Prov 21:8:
a stranger-man. The
Hebrew, literally “man and stranger,” looks suspect. Some emend ʾish wazar
to ʾish kazav, “a lying man,” which reads smoothly, though it has no
textual warrant. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W.
W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:416)
Prov 21:9:
a spacious house. The
Hebrew beyt ḥaver would be literally “house of a friend”—perhaps a
welcoming house. But a reversal of the order of consonants yields bayit raḥav,
“a spacious house.” (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:416)
Prov 21:12:
the hearts of the wicked.
The translation follows the Septuagint, which shows libot, “the hearts
of,” instead of the Masoretic leveyt, “to the house of.” (Robert Alter, The
Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:417)
Prov 21:28:
a man who listens to counsel
will speak. The Masoretic Text reads “a man who listens will forever
[lanetsah]̣ speak,” which scarcely seems the outcome one would want from an
attentive person (presumably, attentive in a court of justice). The translation
adopts the emendation of leʿetsah, “to counsel.” (Robert Alter, The
Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:418)
