7:7 and I saw among the naive –
I discerned among the youths 1 –
a young man 2 who lacked wisdom. 3
7:22 Suddenly he went 4 after her
like an ox that goes to the slaughter,
like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare 5
1 tn Heb “sons.”
2 tn Heb “lad” or “youth.”
3 tn Heb “heart.”
sn This young man who lacked wisdom is one of the simpletons, lacking keen judgment, one void of common sense (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT) or understanding (cf. KJV, ASV). He is young, inexperienced, featherbrained (so D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 75).
4 tn The participle with “suddenly” gives a more vivid picture, almost as if to say “there he goes.”
5 tn The present translation follows R. B. Y. Scott (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes [AB], 64). This third colon of the verse would usually be rendered, “fetters to the chastening of a fool” (KJV, ASV, and NASB are all similar). But there is no support that עֶכֶס (’ekhes) means “fetters.” It appears in Isaiah 3:16 as “anklets.” The parallelism here suggests that some animal imagery is required. Thus the ancient versions have “as a dog to the bonds.”