Mishle 6:27

27 Can a man take eish in his kheyk, and his clothes not be burned?

Mishle 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.

Mishle 6:27 In-Context

25 Lust not after her beauty in thine lev; neither let her allure thee with her eyelids.

26 For by means of an isha zonah a man is reduced to a kikar lechem; and [another] man’s wife will prey on the nefesh yekara (precious soul).

27 Can a man take eish in his kheyk, and his clothes not be burned?

28 Can one walk upon hot coals, and his regel not be burned?

29 So is he that goeth into his eshet re’a; whosoever toucheth her shall not go unpunished.