Proverbs 5:2-3 - Does the LXX preserve a dropped line or make an editorial addition?

Question

The Masoretic Text and NRSV versions of the opening verses of Proverbs 5 are as follows (the MT follows the Aleppo Codex and is taken from the Mechon-Mamre website):

MT	NRSV
א בְּ֭נִי לְחָכְמָתִ֣י הַקְשִׁ֑יבָה לִ֝תְבֽוּנָתִ֗י הַט־אָזְנֶֽךָ׃	1 My child, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
ב לִשְׁמֹ֥ר מְזִמּ֑וֹת וְ֝דַ֗עַת שְׂפָתֶ֥יךָ יִנְצֹֽרוּ׃	2 so that you may hold on to prudence, and your lips may guard knowledge.
ג כִּ֤י נֹ֣פֶת תִּ֭טֹּפְנָה שִׂפְתֵ֣י זָרָ֑ה וְחָלָ֖ק מִשֶּׁ֣מֶן חִכָּֽהּ׃	3 For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;

Note the sudden, non-introduced (or is it – vide infra) description of the 'loose woman' in v. 3.

However, the text of the NJB is rather different, adding an extra 'line' at the end of v. 2 (emphasis added by me):

NJB
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen carefully to what I know;
2 so that you may preserve discretion and your lips may guard knowledge. Take no notice of a loose-living woman,
3 for the lips of the adulteress drip with honey, her palate is more unctuous than oil,

A footnote to the "Study Edition" of the NJB explains that this extra text follows the LXX, μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί (as per Ralph Hancock's transcription of Codex Alexandrinus).

So, my question is this: Does the LXX preserve text that was accidentally 'dropped' by scribal error, either by the Masoretes (highly unlikely) or by those who wrote the MSS from which they worked? Or did the translators of the LXX make a deliberate, 'editorial addition', to make the transition (from what is now v.2 to v. 3) smoother?

Note that the reference to 'lips' in the (MT) version of v. 2 may be sufficient to link it with the following text, even without the LXX 'addition'.

Is there any other textual evidence for this extra line? (Qumran MSS? Targumim? Peshitta? Other Hebrew MSS?)

Answer 1

I am not a textual critic, but can find no evidence that there is significant variation in ancient Hebrew texts. Dr. John Gill (1690-1771) gives an explanation in John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible describing the phrase added in the Septuagint and Arabic versions as an unnecessary supplement. (See note on the verse in question.) This is not uncommon in the Septuagint.

Calling this an "editorial addition" might suggest a connotation not completely fair to the translators. Translation work is not an exact science. For example, compare a several English translations. They can be very diverse, and yet each can be accurate according to the objectives of the work. The conclusion is not that only one is correct.

We are evaluating text that has been translated from ancient Hebrew to Greek and then to English. To fully comprehend why this was rendered this way, we would have to be an expert in all three languages and cultures.

Answer 2

Proverbs 7 nearby is also a warning against adultery so might it be a transposition error?

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[5:2] לִשְׁמֹ֥ר מְזִמֹּ֑ות וְ֝דַ֗עַת שְׂפָתֶ֥יךָ יִנְצֹֽרוּ׃

[5:2] For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,

[5:2 LXX] μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί· μέλι γὰρ ἀποστάζει ἀπὸ χειλέων γυναικὸς πόρνης, ἣ πρὸς καιρὸν λιπαίνει σὸν φάρυγγα·

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[7:25] אַל־יֵ֣שְׂטְ אֶל־דְּרָכֶ֣יהָ לִבֶּ֑ךָ אַל־תֵּ֝֗תַע בִּנְתִיבוֹתֶֽיהָ׃

[7:25] Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,

[7:25] μὴ ἐκκλινάτω εἰς τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῆς ἡ καρδία σου·

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In 7:25, the LXX only renders one of the two imperatives: half the Hebrew line is missing.

Pulpit Commentary remarks on this "Go not astray in her paths. The LXX. (in most manuscripts) has only one rendering for the two clauses: "Let not thine heart incline unto her ways." Proverbs 7:25"

No reason to believe that isn't a coincidence, but putting the untranslated half of 7:25's Hebrew next to the extra bit of 5:2's Greek:-

אַל־יֵ֣שְׂטְ אֶל־דְּרָכֶ֣יהָ לִבֶּ֑ךָ = = do not stray into her paths,

μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί = = do not pay attention to the wicked woman

תֵּ֝תַע=stray had a figurative sense of "seduce" (2 Kings 21:9). προσέχω in NT is normally "pay heed to"/"beware of" but it might have had a wider range than we know: archaically in Pindar it could be to "devote" oneself to a God or in Herodotus gymnastics.

And the remaining element φαύλῃ γυναικί is repeated in γυναικὸς πόρνης.

So as a conjecture: a translator finishes verse 5:1 and their eyes drift to 7:25, which for some reason is loose in their copy. They decide to render אַל־ תֵּ֝תַע as μὴ πρόσεχε and choose to drop the idiom that seduction=wandering down someone's road. They look back to the correct place and use the safe/literal γυναικί, which they repeat in the second half of the line for זָרָ֑ה.