Proverbs 20:16

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

Take his garment that is surety (for) a stranger - addressed to the creditor. Take from the surety the amount that he has made himself responsible for. The design is to show graphically the risk of becoming surety for another; if, as usually happens, the debtor fail to pay, the surety must, in his stead, fall under the power of the creditor.

And take a pledge of him for a strange woman - for whom he has gone surety. The Chaldaic reads as the English version, with the Qeri' [ naakªriyaah (H5237), perhaps derived from Proverbs 28:13 ]. The parallel clause favours the Kethibh reading 'for strangers' [ naakªriym (H5237)]. Gejer takes the Qeri' reading neutrally 'for a strange business' - i:e. a debt owed by a stranger. But the Kethibh is probably the true reading. So the Syriac, and seemingly the Vulgate, 'pro extraneis.'