Proverbs 6:27

27 Can a man carry ¹fire next to his ²chest and his clothes not be burned?

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 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;

26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married womanhunts down a precious life.

27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?

29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.

Cross References

• 1. Job 31:12
• 2. Psalms 79:12