Proverbs 6:20-26

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.

Proverbs 6:20-26 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 8

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.