Proverbs 5:4

4 in the end she's as bitter as wormwood^[a] and as sharp as a double-edged sword.^[b]

Proverbs 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 5:4

But her end is bitter as wormwood
Which is opposed to the honeycomb her lips are said to drop; so that, as Juvenal says ^F7, "plus aloes quam mellis habet": the end which she brings persons to, or the issue of complying with her, is bitterness; such as loss of credit, substance, and health, remorse of conscience, and fear of death, corporeal and eternal; see ( Ecclesiastes 7:26 ) ; sharp as a twoedged sword;
which cuts every way; as committing sin with an harlot hurts both soul and body; and the reflection upon it is very cutting and distressing, and destroys all comfort and happiness. This is the reverse of her soothing and softening speech, which is as oil. Such also will be the sad case of the worshippers of the beast, or whore of Rome; who will gnaw their tongues for pain, and be killed with the twoedged sword that proceedeth out of the mouth of Christ, ( Revelation 16:10 ) ( Revelation 19:15 Revelation 19:21 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Satyr. 6. v. 180. "Lingua dicta dulcia dabis, corde amara facilis", Plauti Truculentus, Act. 1. Sc. 1. v. 77. Cistellaria, Act. 1. Sc. 1. v. 70, 71, 72.

Proverbs 5:4 In-Context

2 so that [you] may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.

3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil,

4 in the end she's as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.

6 She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't know that her ways are unstable.

Footnotes

• [a]. Pr 5:8-11; 6:32-33
• [b]. Ps 55:21