The 'Foreignness' of the Foreign Woman in Proverbs 1-9: A Study of the Origin and Development of a Biblical Motif

She is that seductive woman to be feared, who leads one to utter destruction, and has often been translated as ‘the adulteress’ and ‘the strange woman’ in Proverbs 1-9. However, the Hebrew explicitly refers to her as a ‘foreign woman’ and a ‘strange woman’. This book argues against the former translation and identifies a motif of the ‘foreign woman’ within the Hebrew scripture where she originates. It also continues to trace how this motif develops after she leaves Proverbs 1-9 to the later Jewish wisdom literature.