Proverbs7
New American Standard
1My son, keep my words And treasure my commandments within you.
2Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” And call understanding your intimate friend,
5So that they may keep you from an adulteress, From the foreigner who flatters with her words.
6For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice,
7And I saw among the naive, And discerned among the youths A young man lacking sense,
8Passing through the street near her corner; And he walks along the way to her house,
9In the twilight, in the evening, In the middle of the night and the darkness.
10And behold, a woman comes to meet him, Dressed as a prostitute and cunning of heart.
11She is boisterous and rebellious, Her feet do not remain at home;
12She is now in the streets, now in the public squares, And lurks by every corner.
13So she seizes him and kisses him, And with a brazen face she says to him:
14“I was due to offer peace offerings; Today I have paid my vows.
15Therefore I have come out to meet you, To seek your presence diligently, and I have found you.
16I have spread my couch with coverings, With colored linens of Egypt.
17I have sprinkled my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning; Let’s delight ourselves with caresses.
19For my husband is not at home; He has gone on a long journey.
20He has taken a bag of money with him. At the full moon he will come home.”
21With her many persuasions she entices him; With her flattering lips she seduces him.
22Suddenly he follows her As an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as one walks in ankle bracelets to the discipline of a fool,
23Until an arrow pierces through his liver; As a bird hurries to the snare, So he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths.
26For many are the victims she has brought to ruin, And numerous are all those slaughtered by her.
27Her house is the way to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Proverbs 7.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Invitations to learn wisdom. (1–5). The arts of seducers, with warnings against them. (6–27).
vv1-5
We must lay up God's commandments safely. Not only, Keep them, and you shall live; but, Keep them as those that cannot live without them. Those that blame strict and careful walking as needless and too precise, consider not that the law is to be kept as the apple of the eye; indeed the law in the heart is the eye of the soul. Let the word of God dwell in us, and so be written where it will be always at hand to be read. Thus we shall be kept from the fatal effects of our own passions, and the snares of Satan. Let God's word confirm our dread of sin, and resolutions against it.
vv6-27
Here is an affecting example of the danger of youthful lusts. It is a history or a parable of the most instructive kind. Will any one dare to venture on temptations that lead to impurity, after Solomon has set before his eyes in so lively and plain a manner, the danger of even going near them? Then is he as the man who would dance on the edge of a lofty rock, when he has just seen another fall headlong from the same place. The misery of self-ruined sinners began in disregard to God's blessed commands. We ought daily to pray that we may be kept from running into temptation, else we invite the enemies of our souls to spread snares for us. Ever avoid the neighbourhood of vice. Beware of sins which are said to be pleasant sins. They are the more dangerous, because they most easily gain the heart, and close it against repentance. Do nothing till thou hast well considered the end of it. Were a man to live as long as Methuselah, and to spend all his days in the highest delights sin can offer, one hour of the anguish and tribulation that must follow, would far outweigh them.
Key Words
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
שָׁמַר: properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.
אֵמֶר: something said
צָפַן: to hide (by covering over); by implication, to hoard or reserve; figuratively to deny; specifically (favorably) to protect, (unfavorably) to lurk
מִצְוָה: a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)
חָיָה: to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive
תּוֹרָה: a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch
אִישׁוֹן: the little man of the eye; the pupil or ball; hence, the middle (of night)
עַיִן: an eye (literally or figuratively); by analogy, a fountain (as the eye of the landscape)
קָשַׁר: to tie, physically (gird, confine, compact) or mentally (in love, league)
Cross References
Proverbs 7Uses the identical highly descriptive idiom 'apple of the eye' representing custody of special value.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Establishes the Mosaic law that peace offerings must be eaten on the day of offering.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel command to write wisdom's precepts upon the table of the heart.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct textual match regarding how parental and divine commands keep a youth from the strange woman.
Supported by JFB
Direct parallel linking a lack of understanding with yielding to sexual temptation.
Supported by JFB
Contrasts the harlot whose feet 'abide not in her house' with the godly duty of keepers at home.
Supported by JFB
The Mosaic source command to bind God's words upon the hand and fingers.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Connects the 'simple' youth lacking judgment to the very audience Proverbs aims to instruct.
Supported by JFB
Echoes the pattern of wandering idle and going from house to house in search of mischief.
Supported by JFB
Specifies that peace offerings must be of the best animal, indicating a luxurious feast prepared.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Echoes the warning against the deceptive allure of the strange woman's flattering, sweet lips.
Supported by JFB
Repeats the theme of wisdom preserving a young man from the stranger's flattering words.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Uses identical Hebrew imagery of looking intently through a window or lattice/casement.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the sudden capture and destruction of a soul caught by the adulteress.
Supported by JFB
Provides the historical example of Solomon himself, a strong king cast down by strange women.
Supported by Matthew Poole