Proverbs 7:4-14

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.

Proverbs 7:4-14 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.