Proverbs 6:20-35

Warnings against Adultery

20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

21 Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck.

22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.

23 For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,

24 to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. ^[a]

25 Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. ^[b]

26 For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, ^[c] and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

27 Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

28 Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?

29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

30 Men do not despise the thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger.

31 Yet if caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give up all the wealth of his house.

32 He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.

33 Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away.

34 For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

35 He will not be appeased by any ransom, or persuaded by lavish gifts.

Proverbs 6:20-35 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 6

In this chapter the wise man dissuades from rash suretyship; exposes the sin of idleness; describes a wicked man; makes mention of seven things hateful to God; exhorts to attend to parental instructions and precepts, and cautions against adultery. Suretyship is described, Pr 6:1; and represented as a snare and a net, in which men are taken, Pr 6:2; and advice is given what to do in such a case, for safety in it, and deliverance from it, Pr 6:3-5; The sin of slothfulness is exposed, by observing the industry of the ant, Pr 6:6-8; by expostulating with the sluggard for his continuance in sloth, and by mimicking him, Pr 6:9,10; and by the poverty it brings upon him, Pr 6:11. Then a naughty wicked man is described, by his mouth, eyes, feet, fingers, and heart, whose ruin is sudden and inevitable, Pr 6:11-15. The seven things hateful to God are particularly named, Pr 6:16-19. And next the exhortation in some preceding chapters is reassumed, to attend to the instructions of parents; which will be found ornamental, pleasant, and useful, Pr 6:20-23. Especially to preserve from the lewd woman cautioned against, Pr 6:24,25; whose company is dissuaded from; on account of the extreme poverty and distress she brings persons to, and even danger of life, Pr 6:26; from the unavoidable ruin such come into, Pr 6:27-29; from the sin of uncleanness being greater than that of theft, Pr 6:30,31; from the folly the adulterer betrays; from the destruction of his soul, and the disgrace he brings on himself, Pr 6:32,33; and from the rage and irreconcilable offence of the husband of the adulteress, Pr 6:34,35.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or the stranger
• [b]. Or eyelids or eyelashes
• [c]. Literally a crust of bread