Proverbs 6:5

Listen to Proverbs 6:5
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, [a] 1like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Proverbs 6:5 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 6:5

Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand [of the hunter]
As such a creature, which is very swift, when it is got into the hand of the hunter, will strive and struggle to get out; so should a man try all ways and means to get out of his suretyship engagements, especially when he finds himself liable to danger by it; this he should do "immediately" and "out of hand" F7, as the phrase here used sometimes signifies with the Jewish writers; and as a bird from the hand of the fowler;
another metaphor, signifying the same thing.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 (dym) "statim", De Dieu; "subito", Noldius, p. 606. No. 1630. "ilico, repente", so some in Eliae Tishbi, p. 143.
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Proverbs 6:5 In-Context

3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.
4 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,

Cross References 1

  • 1. 6:5 See Ps. 91:3

Footnotes 1

  • [a] 6:5 Hebrew lacks 'of the hunter'
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025