23:20 Do not spend time 1 among drunkards, 2
among those who eat too much 3 meat,
31:25 She is clothed 4 with strength 5 and honor, 6
and she can laugh 7 at the time 8 to come.
1 tn Heb “do not be among,” but in the sense of “associate with” (TEV); “join” (NIV); “consort…with” (NAB).
2 tn The verb סָבָא (sava’) means “to imbibe; to drink largely.” The participial construction here, סֹבְאֵי־יַיִן (sov’e-yayin), describes “drunkards” (cf. NLT) which is somewhat stronger than saying it refers to “people who drink too much” (cf. NIV, TEV).
3 tn The verb זָלַל (zalal) means “to be light; to be worthless; to make light of.” Making light of something came to mean “to be lavish with; to squander,” especially with regard to food. So it describes “gluttons” primarily; but in the expression there is also room for the person who wastes a lot of food as well.
4 sn The idea of clothing and being clothed is a favorite figure in Hebrew. It makes a comparison between wearing clothes and having strength and honor. Just as clothes immediately indicate something of the nature and circumstances of the person, so do these virtues.
5 tn The first word of the sixteenth line begins with ע (ayin), the sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
6 sn This word appears in Ps 111:3 which says that the
7 sn Here “laugh” is either a metonymy of adjunct or effect. The point is that she is confident for the future because of all her industry and planning.
8 tn Heb “day.” This word is a metonymy of subject meaning any events that take place on the day or in the time to come.