Proverbs 7:2-12

2 1Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching 2as the apple of your eye.
3 3Bind them on your fingers; 4Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," And call understanding your intimate friend;
5 That they may keep you from an adulteress, From the foreigner who flatters with her words.
6 For 5at the window of my house I looked out 6through my lattice,
7 And I saw among the 7naive, And discerned among the youths A young man 8lacking sense,
8 Passing through the street near 9her corner; And he takes the way to 10her house,
9 In the 11twilight, in the evening *, In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10 And behold, a woman comes to meet him, 12Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.
11 She is 13boisterous and rebellious, Her 14feet do not remain at home;
12 She is now in the streets, now 15in the squares, And 16lurks by every corner.

Proverbs 7:2-12 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.

Cross References 16

  • 1. Proverbs 4:4
  • 2. Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalms 17:8; Zechariah 2:8
  • 3. Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:18; Proverbs 6:21
  • 4. Proverbs 3:3
  • 5. Judges 5:28
  • 6. Song of Songs 2:9
  • 7. Proverbs 1:22
  • 8. Proverbs 6:32; Proverbs 9:4
  • 9. Proverbs 7:12
  • 10. Proverbs 7:27
  • 11. Job 24:15
  • 12. Genesis 38:14, 15; 1 Timothy 2:9
  • 13. Proverbs 9:13
  • 14. 1 Timothy 5:13; Titus 2:5
  • 15. Proverbs 9:14
  • 16. Proverbs 23:28

Footnotes 10

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.