זוּר

From the study of Proverbs 22:14

Range of meaning

From zur, 'to be a stranger, be outside'. A zar is someone who does not belong to a given circle. It can mean a non-priest near holy things (Num 1:51), a non-family member (Deut 25:5), a foreigner (Isa 1:7), or 'strange/unauthorized' fire (Lev 10:1). The idea is always 'outside the bounds of what is legitimate for you', and the boundary depends on context.

Against the English

KJV 'strange women' now sounds like 'odd' or 'weird' women. BSB/WEB/NIV 'adulteress' and NASB 'adulteress' make it narrowly about adultery. ESV's 'forbidden' keeps the sense of a boundary. The Hebrew word focuses on where she stands (outside lawful reach), not on her character as such.

How it drifted

In Shakespeare's day 'strange' still meant 'foreign, belonging to another'. Since then it has come to mean 'unusual'.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Proverbs, the 'strange woman' (ishah zarah) is paired with the 'foreign woman' (nokhriyyah) in 2:16, 5:20, 7:5 and 23:27. In 7:19 she is married and her husband is away. In 2:17 she has 'forsaken the companion of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her God'. The Septuagint renders this verse with paranomos, 'lawless one'.

From the study of Proverbs 2:16

Range of meaning

From zur, 'to be strange, turn aside, be an outsider'. The participle zar marks a person or thing standing outside a defined boundary. That can be a layperson as against a priest (Num 1:51; 3:10), an unauthorized 'strange fire' (Lev 10:1), someone outside the family (Deut 25:5, where a widow is not to marry 'a stranger' outside her husband's family), another person as opposed to oneself (Prov 27:2), or a foreign invader (Isa 1:7; Hos 7:9). The core idea is relational: 'not one of ours, not legitimately mine', rather than 'peculiar'.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have 'strange woman'. ESV and BSB have 'forbidden woman', NIV 'adulterous woman', NLT 'immoral woman'. 'Strange' was accurate in 1611, when it still meant 'belonging to others, foreign'. Today it suggests weird or eccentric. 'Forbidden' and 'adulterous' get the point across but turn a word about boundaries into a moral label.

How it drifted

English 'strange' (from Old French estrange, Latin extraneus, 'from outside') moved from 'foreign, belonging to another' to 'odd, unusual'. The KJV wording kept the older sense while readers moved on.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Proverbs 1–9 poems use zarah for the same figure in 5:3, 5:20, 7:5 and 22:14. In 5:15–20 she is set against 'the wife of your youth': drink water from your own cistern, not from outside. The Egyptian Instruction of Any (New Kingdom) has a close parallel: 'Beware of a woman who is a stranger, one not known in her town... a deep water whose course is unknown, a woman who is far from her husband.' The Vulgate's muliere aliena ('woman belonging to another') keeps the relational sense.

From the study of Psalm 58:3

Range of meaning

To be or become a stranger, an outsider, someone who does not belong. The adjective/participle zār means 'stranger, outsider, unauthorized person': someone outside a household, a family, the priesthood, or the nation. The verb means to become alienated, turn away, or be cut off from what one should belong to.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NASB, BSB and YLT have 'estranged', which is accurate. WEB and NIV fold it into 'go astray' or 'wayward', and that loses the picture of being an outsider. NLT drops it for 'born sinners'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 1:4 uses the same root: Israel 'have turned away (nāzōrû) backward' from the LORD. Job 19:13–15 and Ps 69:8 use it for becoming a stranger to one's own family. Num 3:10, 38 use zār for the unauthorized 'outsider' who may not come near the sanctuary. The Greek Septuagint (the ancient Jewish translation) renders it apēllotriōthēsan, 'they were alienated'.