Proverbs 7

1 Follow my advice, my son; always treasure my commands.

2 Obey my commands and live! Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes.

3 Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.

4 Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a beloved member of your family.

5 Let them protect you from an affair with an immoral woman, from listening to the flattery of a promiscuous woman.

6 While I was at the window of my house, looking through the curtain,

7 I saw some naive young men, and one in particular who lacked common sense.

8 He was crossing the street near the house of an immoral woman, strolling down the path by her house.

9 It was at twilight, in the evening, as deep darkness fell.

10 The woman approached him, seductively dressed and sly of heart.

11 She was the brash, rebellious type, never content to stay at home.

12 She is often in the streets and markets, soliciting at every corner.

13 She threw her arms around him and kissed him, and with a brazen look she said,

14 “I’ve just made my peace offerings and fulfilled my vows.

15 You’re the one I was looking for! I came out to find you, and here you are!

16 My bed is spread with beautiful blankets, with colored sheets of Egyptian linen.

17 I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18 Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning. Let’s enjoy each other’s caresses,

19 for my husband is not home. He’s away on a long trip.

20 He has taken a wallet full of money with him and won’t return until later this month. ”

21 So she seduced him with her pretty speech and enticed him with her flattery.

22 He followed her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter. He was like a stag caught in a trap,

23 awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life.

24 So listen to me, my sons, and pay attention to my words.

25 Don’t let your hearts stray away toward her. Don’t wander down her wayward path.

26 For she has been the ruin of many; many men have been her victims.

27 Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death.

Proverbs 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]. Hebrew as the pupil of your eye.
• [b]. Hebrew until the moon is full.
• [c]. As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads slaughter, as shackles are for the discipline of a fool.
• [d]. Hebrew to Sheol.

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.