Reply To: What version of the Tanakh do you read?

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ravshalom
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BoR – I believe that the discrepancy may be attributable to the different methods of translation. I am assuming (and please correct me if I am wrong) that all the editions that you have been using agree as to the original Hebrew proverb, and it is just the English in which there is a difference. If that is correct, the “original” proverb of Solomon is simply that Hebrew proverb.

Now, when translating to English, there are editions (and editors) which prefer literal translation over contextual accuracy, and others whose preference would be the reverse. Artscroll, which is an Orthodox company, almost always will choose contextual accuracy, and will base said accuracy on the opinion or opinions of the classic rabbinic commentaries of Tanach. The editors at Artscroll freely admit that the translation doesn’t, and cannot possibly, encompass ALL of the rabbinic opinions, and their reasoning that determines which one they use is often not apparant. (I believe that ItcheSrulik isn’t entirely correct in stating that they translate “almost exclusively according to Rashi”; they very often use others.)

Whether the other (non-Artscroll) translation of this particular proverb is based on a different commentary or simply on a literal translation (which then may be rejected by all opinions) is beyond the realm of my limited scholarship, but suffice it to say that there are countless ways to understand almost every verse in Tanach, and it is very often futile to attempt to determine the “true” meaning – indeed, the authors of the books of Tanach, with their Divine inspiration and superior intellect, may have had many intentions in mind when choosing a particular phrase.