Pro 18:22 | KD | STEP | Whatso hath found a wife hath found a good thing, And hath obtained favour from Jahve. As ואהביה, 21b, reminds us of , so here not only 22b, but also 22a harmonizes with (cf. ). A wife is such as she ought to be, as , אישׁ, a man is such as he ought to be; the lxx, Syr., Targ., and Vulgate supply bonam , but “gnomic brevity and force disdains such enervating adjectives, and cautious limitations of the idea” (Fl.). Besides, אשׁה טובה in old Hebr. would mean a well-favoured rather than a good-dispositioned wife, which later idea is otherwise expressed, ; Pro 31:10. The Venet . rightly has γυναῖκα, and Luther ein Ehefraw , for it is a married woman that is meant. The first מצא is perf. hypotheticum , Gesen. §126, Anm . 1. On the other hand, , “I found, מוצא אני, more bitter than death the woman,” etc.; wherefore, when in Palestine one married a wife, the question was wont to be asked: או מוצא מצא, has he married happily (after מצא of the book of Proverbs) or unhappily (after מוצא of Ecclesiastes) ( Jebamoth 63b)? The lxx adds a distich to , “He that putteth away a good wife putteth away happiness; and he that keepeth an adulteress, is foolish and ungodly.” He who constructed this proverb [added by the lxx] has been guided by מצא to מוציא (Ezr 10:3); elsewhere ἐκβάλλειν (γυναῖκα), , Sir. 28:15, is the translation of גּרשׁ. The Syr. has adopted the half of that distich, and Jerome the whole of it. On the other hand, , , and , are wanting in the lxx. The translation which is found in some Codd. is that of Theodotion ( vid ., Lagarde).

‏ Proverbs 18:22

Pro 18:22 22 Whatso hath found a wife hath found a good thing, And hath obtained favour from Jahve.

As ואהביה, 21b, reminds us of Pro 8:17, so here not only 22b, but also 22a harmonizes with Pro 8:35 (cf. Pro 12:2). A wife is such as she ought to be, as Pro 18:14, אישׁ, a man is such as he ought to be; the lxx, Syr., Targ., and Vulgate supply bonam, but “gnomic brevity and force disdains such enervating adjectives, and cautious limitations of the idea” (Fl.). Besides, אשׁה טובה in old Hebr. would mean a well-favoured rather than a good-dispositioned wife, which later idea is otherwise expressed, Pro 19:14; Pro 31:10. The Venet. rightly has γυναῖκα, and Luther ein Ehefraw, for it is a married woman that is meant. The first מצא is perf. hypotheticum, Gesen. §126, Anm. 1. On the other hand, Ecc 7:26, “I found, מוצא אני, more bitter than death the woman,” etc.; wherefore, when in Palestine one married a wife, the question was wont to be asked: או מוצא מצא, has he married happily (after מצא of the book of Proverbs) or unhappily (after מוצא of Ecclesiastes) (Jebamoth 63b)? ^{▼▼Cf. Gendlau’s Sprichwörter u. Redensarten deutsch-jüdischer Vorzeit (1860), p. 235.}

The lxx adds a distich to Pro 18:22, “He that putteth away a good wife putteth away happiness; and he that keepeth an adulteress, is foolish and ungodly.” He who constructed this proverb [added by the lxx] has been guided by מצא to מוציא (Ezr 10:3); elsewhere ἐκβάλλειν (γυναῖκα), Gal 4:30, Sir. 28:15, is the translation of גּרשׁ. The Syr. has adopted the half of that distich, and Jerome the whole of it. On the other hand, Pro 18:23, Pro 18:24, and Pro 19:1-2, are wanting in the lxx. The translation which is found in some Codd. is that of Theodotion (vid., Lagarde).