Translation
THE PEACEFUL MAN TO HIS OLDEST DAUGHTER
If she is a wall, we will build a fortress of silver on her.
If she is a door,
Go to footnote numberwe will enclose
Go to footnote numberher with glistening planks
Go to footnote numberof cedar.
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
THE COMPLETE MAN TO HIS OLDEST DAUGHTER
If she knows how to protect, we will accentuate her ability to protect so that it is attractive.
If she has many opportunities open before her, we will protect her in a proper and elegant way.
Footnotes
1
A door always symbolized an opportunity.
2
Why would you enclose a door? Isn’t a door for access? This obviously represents something different than the sum of its words; it is symbolism. Enclosed means protected.
3: “glistening planks”
The Hebrew word used here means “a tablet (like the one used to inscribe the “10 words,” i.e. the 10 Commandments), a board or plank.” It seems to have come from a root word that means “to glisten or shine,” hence, a piece of stone that has been smoothed and polished, or wood that has been sanded and varnished or stained.
Re: the imagery: Anything that glistened and shined was a symbol for purity and rightness because it had to be free of impurities, free of imperfections, in order to shine. I render it in the paraphrase column as “proper” meaning “right.”
4
Solomon’s answer to the question “What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?” has two parts, and we could paraphrase the paraphrase column even further, as follows: “We will give her opportunities to learn and grow, but we will protect her in the midst of those opportunities so she is not in danger by our pulling back too soon.”