14:1 Every wise woman 1 builds 2 her household, 3
but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.
17:18 The one who lacks wisdom 4 strikes hands in pledge, 5
and puts up financial security 6 for his neighbor. 7
1 tn Heb “wise ones of women.” The construct phrase חַכְמוֹת נָשִׁים (khakhmot nashim) features a wholistic genitive: “wise women.” The plural functions in a distributive sense: “every wise woman.” The contrast is between wise and foolish women (e.g., Prov 7:10-23; 31:10-31).
2 tn The perfect tense verb in the first colon functions in a gnomic sense, while the imperfect tense in the second colon is a habitual imperfect.
3 tn Heb “house.” This term functions as a synecdoche of container (= house) for contents (= household, family).
4 tn Heb “heart”; KJV, ASV “a man void of understanding”; NIV “a man lacking in judgment.”
5 tn The phrase “in pledge” is supplied for the sake of clarification.
6 tn The line uses the participle עֹרֵב (’orev) with its cognate accusative עֲרֻבָּה (’arubah), “who pledges a pledge.”
7 sn It is foolish to pledge security for someone’s loans (e.g., Prov 6:1-5).