Proverbs 6:24-29

24 to preserve you from the evil woman,[a] from the smooth tongue of 1the adulteress.[b]
25 2Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her 3eyelashes;
26 for 4the price of a prostitute is only 5a loaf of bread,[c] but a married woman[d]6hunts down a precious life.
27 Can a man carry 7fire next to his 8chest and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one 9walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; none who touches her 10will go unpunished.

Proverbs 6:24-29 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 6

In this chapter the wise man dissuades from rash suretyship; exposes the sin of idleness; describes a wicked man; makes mention of seven things hateful to God; exhorts to attend to parental instructions and precepts, and cautions against adultery. Suretyship is described, Pr 6:1; and represented as a snare and a net, in which men are taken, Pr 6:2; and advice is given what to do in such a case, for safety in it, and deliverance from it, Pr 6:3-5; The sin of slothfulness is exposed, by observing the industry of the ant, Pr 6:6-8; by expostulating with the sluggard for his continuance in sloth, and by mimicking him, Pr 6:9,10; and by the poverty it brings upon him, Pr 6:11. Then a naughty wicked man is described, by his mouth, eyes, feet, fingers, and heart, whose ruin is sudden and inevitable, Pr 6:11-15. The seven things hateful to God are particularly named, Pr 6:16-19. And next the exhortation in some preceding chapters is reassumed, to attend to the instructions of parents; which will be found ornamental, pleasant, and useful, Pr 6:20-23. Especially to preserve from the lewd woman cautioned against, Pr 6:24,25; whose company is dissuaded from; on account of the extreme poverty and distress she brings persons to, and even danger of life, Pr 6:26; from the unavoidable ruin such come into, Pr 6:27-29; from the sin of uncleanness being greater than that of theft, Pr 6:30,31; from the folly the adulterer betrays; from the destruction of his soul, and the disgrace he brings on himself, Pr 6:32,33; and from the rage and irreconcilable offence of the husband of the adulteress, Pr 6:34,35.

Cross References 10

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Revocalization (compare Septuagint) yields from the wife of a neighbor
  • [b]. Hebrew the foreign woman
  • [c]. Or (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate) for a prostitute leaves a man with nothing but a loaf of bread
  • [d]. Hebrew a man's wife
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.