Proverbs 6:27

27 Whether a man may hide fire in his bosom, that his clothes burn not; (Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his clothes not burn?)

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 Thine heart covet not the fairness of her; neither be thou taken (in) by the beckonings of her. (Do not let thy heart desire her beauty; nor be thou taken in by her beckonings.)

26 For the price of a whore is scarcely a gobbet of bread; but (such) a woman taketh (away) the precious soul of a man.

27 Whether a man may hide fire in his bosom, that his clothes burn not; (Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his clothes not burn?)

28 either go on coals, and his feet be not burnt? (or go upon coals, and his feet not be burned?)

29 So he that entereth to the wife of his neighbour; (he) shall not be clean, when he hath touched her.