Proverbios 7

1 Hijo mío, guarda mis palabras, y atesora mis mandamientos contigo.

2 Guarda mis mandamientos y vivirás, y mi enseñanza como la niña de tus ojos.

3 Atalos a tus dedos, escríbelos en la tabla de tu corazón.

4 Di a la sabiduría: Tú eres mi hermana, y llama a la inteligencia tu mejor amiga,

5 para que te guarden de la mujer extraña, de la desconocida que lisonjea con sus palabras.

6 Porque desde la ventana de mi casa miraba por la celosía,

7 y vi entre los simples, distinguí entre los muchachos a un joven falto de juicio,

8 pasando por la calle cerca de su esquina; iba camino de su casa,

9 al atardecer, al anochecer, en medio de la noche y la oscuridad.

10 Y he aquí, una mujer le sale al encuentro, vestida como ramera y astuta de corazón.

11 Es alborotadora y rebelde, sus pies no permanecen en casa;

12 está ya en las calles, ya en las plazas, y acecha por todas las esquinas.

13 Y lo agarra y lo besa, y descarada le dice:

14 Tenía que ofrecer ofrendas de paz, y hoy he cumplido mis votos;

15 por eso he salido a encontrarte, buscando tu rostro con ansiedad, y te he hallado.

16 He tendido mi lecho con colchas, con linos de Egipto en colores;

17 he rociado mi cama con mirra, áloes y canela.

18 Ven, embriaguémonos de amor hasta la mañana, deleitémonos con caricias.

19 Porque mi marido no está en casa, se ha ido a un largo viaje;

20 se ha llevado en la mano la bolsa del dinero, volverá a casa para la luna llena.

21 Con sus palabras persuasivas lo atrae, lo seduce con sus labios lisonjeros.

22 Al instante la sigue, como va el buey al matadero, o como uno en grillos al castigo de un necio,

23 hasta que una flecha le traspasa el hígado; como el ave que se precipita en la trampa, y no sabe que esto le costará la vida.

24 Ahora pues, hijos míos, escuchadme, y prestad atención a las palabras de mi boca.

25 No se desvíe tu corazón hacia sus caminos, no te extravíes en sus sendas.

26 Porque muchas son las víctimas derribadas por ella, y numerosos los que ha matado.

27 Su casa es el camino al Seol, que desciende a las cámaras de la muerte.

Proverbios 7 Commentary

Chapter 7

Invitations to learn wisdom. (1-5) The arts of seducers, with warnings against them. (6-27)

Verses 1-5 We must lay up God's commandments safely. Not only, Keep them, and you shall live; but, Keep them as those that cannot live without them. Those that blame strict and careful walking as needless and too precise, consider not that the law is to be kept as the apple of the eye; indeed the law in the heart is the eye of the soul. Let the word of God dwell in us, and so be written where it will be always at hand to be read. Thus we shall be kept from the fatal effects of our own passions, and the snares of Satan. Let God's word confirm our dread of sin, and resolutions against it.

Verses 6-27 Here is an affecting example of the danger of youthful lusts. It is a history or a parable of the most instructive kind. Will any one dare to venture on temptations that lead to impurity, after Solomon has set before his eyes in so lively and plain a manner, the danger of even going near them? Then is he as the man who would dance on the edge of a lofty rock, when he has just seen another fall headlong from the same place. The misery of self-ruined sinners began in disregard to God's blessed commands. We ought daily to pray that we may be kept from running into temptation, else we invite the enemies of our souls to spread snares for us. Ever avoid the neighbourhood of vice. Beware of sins which are said to be pleasant sins. They are the more dangerous, because they most easily gain the heart, and close it against repentance. Do nothing till thou hast well considered the end of it. Were a man to live as long as Methuselah, and to spend all his days in the highest delights sin can offer, one hour of the anguish and tribulation that must follow, would far outweigh them.

Footnotes

• [a]. O, ley

Chapter Summary

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.