Proverbios 7

1 Hijo mío, guarda mis razones, y encierra contigo mis mandamientos.

2 Guarda mis mandamientos, y vivirás; y mi ley como las niñas de tus ojos.

3 Lígalos a tus dedos; escríbelos en la tabla de tu corazón.

4 Di a la sabiduría: Tú eres mi hermana; y a la inteligencia llama parienta,

5 para que te guarden de la mujer ajena, y de la extraña que ablanda sus palabras.

6 Porque mirando yo por la ventana de mi casa, por mi celosía,

7 vi entre los simples, consideré entre los jóvenes, un joven falto de entendimiento,

8 el cual pasaba por la calle, junto a la esquina de aquella, e iba camino de su casa;

9 a la tarde del día, ya que oscurecía; en la oscuridad y tiniebla de la noche.

10 Y he aquí, una mujer que le sale al encuentro con atavío de ramera, guardada de corazón,

11 alborotadora y rencillosa, sus pies no pueden estar en casa;

12 unas veces de fuera, o bien por las plazas, acechando por todas las esquinas.

13 Y traba de él, y lo besa; desvergonzó su rostro, y le dijo:

14 Sacrificios de paz había prometido, hoy he pagado mis votos;

15 por tanto he salido a encontrarte, buscando tu rostro, y te he hallado.

16 Con paramentos he ataviado mi cama, recamados con cordoncillo de Egipto.

17 He sahumado mi cámara con mirra, áloes, y canela.

18 Ven, embriaguémonos de amores hasta la mañana; alegrémonos en amores.

19 Porque el marido no está en casa, se ha ido a un largo viaje;

20 el saco de dinero llevó en su mano, el día de la fiesta volverá a su casa.

21 Lo derribó con la mucha suavidad de sus palabras, con la blandura de sus labios lo persuadió.

22 Se va en pos de ella luego, como va el buey al degolladero, y como el loco a las prisiones para ser castigado;

23 de tal manera que la saeta traspasó su hígado; como el ave que se apresura al lazo, y no sabe que es contra su vida.

24 Ahora pues, hijos, oídme, y estad atentos a las razones de mi boca.

25 No se aparte a sus caminos tu corazón; no yerres en sus veredas.

26 Porque a muchos ha hecho caer muertos; y todos los fuertes han sido muertos por ella.

27 Caminos del sepulcro son su casa, que descienden a las cámaras de la muerte.

Proverbios 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.

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.