Proverbs 6:20-35

Danger of adultery

20 My son, keep your father's command; don't abandon your mother's instruction.

21 Bind them on your heart for all time; fasten them around your neck.

22 When you walk around, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will protect you; when you awake, they will occupy your attention.

23 The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light; corrective teaching is the path of life.

24 They guard you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.

25 Don't desire her beauty in secret; don't let her take you in with her eyelashes,

26 for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts for a man's very life.

27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap and his clothes not get burned?

28 If a man walks on hot coals, don't his feet get burned?

29 So is the man who approaches his neighbor's wife; anyone who touches her will be punished.

30 People don't despise a thief if he steals to fill his starving stomach.

31 But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold; he must give all the riches of his house.

32 He who commits adultery is senseless. Doing so, he destroys himself.

33 He is wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be wiped away.

34 Jealousy makes a man rage; he'll show no mercy on his day of revenge.

35 He won't accept compensation; he'll refuse even a large bribe.

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]. Heb uncertain