Proverbs 7:6-23

6 When from the window of my house, from behind the screen, I gazed down,

7 I looked among the naive young men and noticed among the youth, one who had no sense.

8 He was crossing the street at her corner and walked down the path to her house

9 in the early evening, at the onset of night and darkness.

10 All of a sudden a woman approaches him, dressed like a prostitute and with a cunning mind.

11 She is noisy and defiant; her feet don't stay long in her own house.

12 She has one foot in the street, one foot in the public square. She lies in wait at every corner.

13 She grabs him and kisses him. Her face is brazen as she speaks to him:

14 "I've made a sacrifice of well-being; today I fulfilled my solemn promises.

15 So I've come out to meet you, seeking you, and I have found you.

16 I've spread my bed with luxurious covers, with colored linens from Egypt.

17 I've sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

18 Come, let's drink deep of love until morning; let's savor our lovemaking.

19 For my husband isn't home; he's gone far away.

20 He took a pouch of money with him; he won't come home till full moon."

21 She seduces him with all her talk. She entices him with her flattery.

22 He goes headlong after her, like an ox to the slaughter, like a deer leaping into a trap,

23 until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird hurrying to the snare, not aware that it will cost him his life.

Proverbs 7:6-23 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb uncertain