Proverbs 7:6-23

6 Once I was looking out the window of my house,
7 and I saw many inexperienced young men, but noticed one foolish fellow in particular.
8 He was walking along the street near the corner where a certain woman lived. He was passing near her house
9 in the evening after it was dark.
10 And then she met him; she was dressed like a prostitute and was making plans.
11 She was a bold and shameless woman who always walked the streets
12 or stood waiting at a corner, sometimes in the streets, sometimes in the marketplace.
13 She threw her arms around the young man, kissed him, looked him straight in the eye, and said,
14 "I made my offerings today and have the meat from the sacrifices.
15 So I came out looking for you. I wanted to find you, and here you are!
16 I've covered my bed with sheets of colored linen from Egypt.
17 I've perfumed it with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come on! Let's make love all night long. We'll be happy in each other's arms.
19 My husband isn't at home. He's on a long trip.
20 He took plenty of money with him and won't be back for two weeks."
21 So she tempted him with her charms, and he gave in to her smooth talk.
22 Suddenly he was going with her like an ox on the way to be slaughtered, like a deer prancing into a trap
23 where an arrow would pierce its heart. He was like a bird going into a net - he did not know that his life was in danger.

Proverbs 7:6-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 7

The sum of this chapter is to exhort men to attend to the doctrines and precepts of Wisdom, in order to avoid the adulterous woman; the exhortation to keep them with care, affection, and delight, in order to answer the end, is in Pr 7:1-5. A story is told, of Solomon's own knowledge, of a young man ensnared and ruined by a lewd woman; it begins Pr 7:6. The young man is described as foolish, and as throwing himself in the way of temptation, Pr 7:7-9; the harlot that met him is described by her attire, her subtlety, her voice, her inconstancy, her impudence, and pretensions to piety, Pr 7:10-14. The arguments she made use of to prevail upon him to go with her are taken partly from the elegance of her bed, the softness of it, and its sweet perfume, and satiety of love to be enjoyed in it, Pr 7:15-18; and partly from the absence of her husband, who was gone a long journey, and had made provision for it for a certain time, Pr 7:19,20. By which arguments she prevailed upon him to his utter ruin: which is illustrated by the similes of an ox going to the slaughter, a fool to the stocks, and a bird to the snare, Pr 7:21-23. And the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to hearken to the words of Wisdom, and to avoid the ways and paths of the harlot, by which many and mighty persons have been ruined; they being the direct road to hell and death, Pr 7:24-27.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. [Probable text] like a deer prancing into a trap; [Hebrew unclear.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.