Proverbs 6:20-35

Commandment and Instruction as Guardians

20 My child, keep [the] commandment of your father, and do not disregard [the] instruction of your mother.

21 Bind them on your heart continually; tie them upon your neck.

22 {When you walk}, she will lead you, {When you lie down}, she will watch over you, and [when] you awake, she will converse [with] you.

23 For [like] a lamp [is] a commandment, and instruction [is] light, and the way of life [is the] reproof of discipline,

24 [in order] to preserve you from an evil woman, from the smoothness of [the] tongue of {an adulteress}.

25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart; may she not capture you with her eyelashes.

26 For [the] price of a woman, a prostitute, [is the] price of a loaf of bread, but the {woman belonging to a man} hunts precious life.

Warning Against Relations with a Married Woman

27 Can a man carry fire in his lap, and his clothes not burn?

28 If a man walks upon the hot coals, will his feet not be burned?

29 Thus, he who goes to the wife of his neighbor, any who touches her shall not go unpunished.

30 [People] do not despise a thief when he steals to fill himself when he is hungry.

31 But [if] he is found, he will pay sevenfold, every possession of his house he shall give.

32 He who commits adultery [with] a woman lacks {sense}, he destroys himself who does it.

33 A wound and dishonor he will find, and his disgrace will not be wiped out.

34 For jealousy [is the] fury of a husband, and he will not show restraint on the day of revenge.

35 He will not accept {any compensation}, and he will not be willing, though the bribe is large.

Proverbs 6:20-35 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "In your walking"
• [b]. That is, "commandment" and "instruction"
• [c]. Literally "In your lying down"
• [d]. Hebrew "lives"
• [e]. Or "wife"
• [f]. Literally "a foreign woman"
• [g]. Or "whore"
• [h]. Literally "the woman of a man"
• [i]. Or "soul," or "inner self"
• [j]. Literally "heart"
• [k]. Or "his soul," or "his life"
• [l]. Literally "[the] face of any compensation"