Proverbs 23:27

27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress ^[a] is a narrow well.

Proverbs 23:27 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 23:27

For a whore [is] a deep ditch
Or, "as a deep ditch", so Aben Ezra; to which she may be compared for the filthiness of her whoredoms, and for her insatiable lust, as well as for her being never satisfied with what she receives from her lovers. Plautus compares ^F7 her to the sea, which devours whatever you give, and yet nothing appears; and another ^F8 calls a whore Charybdis, from her swallowing up and devouring all a man has. She is as a ditch that has no bottom, into which those that fall are ever sinking deeper and deeper, till they get into the bottomless pit; for there is seldom any recovery from this dreadful evil; and a strange woman [is] a narrow pit;
or "well" ^F9; into which when men fall, they bruise themselves in a terrible manner, by beating from side to side; and out of which they cannot extricate themselves; at least not easily, but with great difficulty, if ever. This may very well be applied to the whore of Rome, and the filthiness of her fornications; and the dreadful state of those who are drawn in to commit fornication with her.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Truculaetus, Act. 2. Sc. 7. v. 16, 17. "Lucuculetum coenum", Bacchides, Act. 3. Sc. 1. v. 11. "Lutea meretrix", Trucul. Act. 4. Sc. 4. v. 1l.
F8 Sydonius Apollinar. l. 9. Ep. 6.
F9 (rab) "putens", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis, Schultens.

Proverbs 23:27 In-Context

25 May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.

27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.

28 Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

Footnotes

• [a]. Or a foreign woman or a wayward wife