Proverbs 6:27

27 numquid abscondere potest homo ignem in sinu suo ut vestimenta illius non ardeant

Proverbs 6:27 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 6:27

Can a man take fire in his bosom
A whore is compared to fire, and is so called by the poets ^F15; and it is a saying of Pythagoras,

``it is a like thing to fall into fire and into a woman ^F16;''

the Hebrew words (va) , "esh", "fire", and (hvya) , "ishah", "a woman", have some affinity in sound; and the phrase of taking it "into the bosom" fitly expresses the impure embraces of a harlot; and his clothes not be burned?
he cannot, it is impossible; and equally vain is it to think that a man can commit whoredom and it not be known, or he not hurt by it in his name and substance, or in his body, soul, and life.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Plauti Bacehides, Act. 4. Sc. 9. v. 15. "Accede ad ignem hunc", Terent. Eunuehus, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 5.
F16 (to eiv pur kai eiv gunaika) , apud Maximum, Eclog. c. 39.

Proverbs 6:27 In-Context

25 non concupiscat pulchritudinem eius cor tuum nec capiaris nutibus illius

26 pretium enim scorti vix unius est panis mulier autem viri pretiosam animam capit

27 numquid abscondere potest homo ignem in sinu suo ut vestimenta illius non ardeant

28 aut ambulare super prunas et non conburentur plantae eius

29 sic qui ingreditur ad mulierem proximi sui non erit mundus cum tetigerit eam