This is short saying of three lines. Literally its theme is that preparations for providing the basic necessities of life should come before the enterprise of building a home, but the saying may be a proverb that can be quoted and made to apply to making the necessary preparations before any important undertaking. The establishment of a home and family was a main ambition in Israelite life and all ancient times.

“Prepare your work outside”: The term rendered “Prepare” has the general meaning of “establish,” “make firm,” “make ready,” or “accomplish.” The term “outside” usually refers to the area of ground around a house or a town, and particularly to the area used for agriculture by the people of a town. So the meaning of the line is something like “Put in order your work out of doors” (Revised English Bible), “Do thoroughly your work outside” (Scott), or “Get your fields ready” (Contemporary English Version, Good News Translation).

“Get everything ready for you in the field”: This line has the same sense as the previous line, and expresses it more clearly; it is literally “Make it ready in the field for you.” If there is any difference in meaning, the first line may refer to preparing the ground and this line to planting a crop. Contemporary English Version expresses this idea as “Get your fields ready and plant your crops.” Two renderings from the Pacific area are “You must clear your ground and make gardens. . .” and “Work hard to plant your garden, and be looking after it. . ..”

“And after that build your house”: The Hebrew term “after that” or “afterwards” stands in a position of emphasis at the beginning of this final line of the verse. The order of the enterprises is the most important element of the saying. “After that” may be expressed in this context as “only after that.” For some languages a good model is “after that you can build a house.” Good News Translation gets the sense very well in English by restructuring the whole verse: “Don’t build your house . . . until your fields are ready. . ..”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .