English · ASV

Proverbs 7

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

Hold Fast to Wisdom 1–5

1
My son, keep my words, And lay up my commandments with thee. ​
2
Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye. ​
3
Bind them upon thy fingers; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart. ​
4
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understandingthy kinswoman:
5
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the foreigner that flattereth with her words. ​

The Observation of the Simple Youth 6–23

6
For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice; ​
7
And I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, A young man void of understanding, ​
8
Passing through the street near her corner; And he went the way to her house,
9
In the twilight, in the evening of the day, In the middle of the night and in the darkness. ​
10
And, behold, there met him a woman With the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart. ​
11
(She is clamorous and wilful; Her feet abide not in her house:
12
Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, And lieth in wait at every corner.) ​
13
So she caught him, and kissed him, Andwith an impudent face she said unto him:
14
Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me; This day have I paid my vows. ​
15
Therefore came I forth to meet thee, Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16
I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. ​
17
I have perfumed my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; Let us solace ourselves with loves.
19
For the man is not at home; He is gone a long journey:
20
He hath taken a bag of money with him; He will come home at the full moon.
21
With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield; With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along. ​
22
He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter, Or asone infetters to the correction of the fool; ​
23
Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life. ​

Final Warning Against Immorality 24–27

24
Now therefore, mysons, hearken unto me, And attend to the words of my mouth. ​
25
Let not thy heart decline to her ways; Go not astray in her paths.
26
For she hath cast down many wounded: Yea, all her slain are a mighty host. ​
27
Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Proverbs 7

Verse 1

lay up my commandments — 'Lay up' is tsaphan, to hide away as treasure, the verb of Prov 2:1, 'hide my commandments with thee', and of Ps 119:11, 'Thy word have I hid in mine heart'. 'Keep' is shamar, to hedge about and guard. The warning of this chapter begins with the treasuring of the word.

Verse 2

as the apple of thine eye — Ishon is the 'little man' of the eye, the pupil, the part guarded above any other. The LORD kept Jacob 'as the apple of his eye' (Deut 32:10), and David asks the same for himself (Ps 17:8). 'Keep… and live' echoes Lev 18:5, 'he shall live in them', which Paul cites in Rom 10:5.

Verse 3

upon thy fingers — The words are worn as the sign of Deut 6:8, 'bind them for a sign upon thine hand', then written inward on 'the table of thine heart'. The same writing surface (luach) appears when Judah's sin is 'graven upon the table of their heart' (Jer 17:1) and in Paul's 'fleshy tables of the heart' (2 Cor 3:3).

Verse 5

the strange woman — Two words are joined: 'strange' (zur, to turn aside) and 'stranger' (nokriy, foreign), as in Prov 2:16, 'from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words'. 'Flattereth' is chalaq, to be smooth, the image of Prov 5:3, 'her mouth is smoother than oil'.

Verse 6

my casement — The father now tells what he saw from his window. 'Casement' is eshnab, a latticed window, found only here and in Judges 5:28, where Sisera's mother 'cried through the lattice' for a son who did not come. 'Looked' is shaqaph, to lean out and gaze.

Verse 7

void of understanding — Literally 'lacking heart' (chaser lev), the phrase of Prov 6:32, 'whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding'. The 'simple ones' (pethi) are the open and easily led, whom Wisdom calls: 'O ye simple, understand wisdom' (Prov 8:5; compare 1:22).

Verse 9

the black and dark night — 'Twilight' is nesheph, the dusk; Job 24:15 gives the motive: 'The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me'. 'Black… night' translates ishon, the word for the pupil of the eye in v.2, here the middle of the night.

Verse 10

the attire of an harlot — Shith is a dress put on and zonah is the harlot, so she meets him dressed for her trade. 'Subtil of heart' is natsar, to guard or keep, the verb of Prov 4:23, 'Keep thy heart with all diligence'; her heart guards its purpose and keeps it concealed.

Verse 12

lieth in wait at every corner — 'Lieth in wait' is arab, to lurk in ambush, the verb of Prov 23:28, 'She also lieth in wait as for a prey'. Her restless movement 'without' and 'in the streets' reverses the woman of Prov 31:27, who 'looketh well to the ways of her household'.

Verse 14

I have peace offerings with me — A peace offering (shelamim) was eaten by the one who brought it, on the same day for a thanksgiving (Lev 7:15), or that day and the next for a vow (Lev 7:16). Her words, 'this day have I payed my vows', mean meat is at hand in her house; Prov 21:27 says 'The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination'.

Verse 16

fine linen of Egypt — She has 'decked' (rabad, spread) the bed with 'coverings of tapestry' (marbad) and 'carved works' (chatubah, figured work). Etun, twisted yarn, is found only here; Egyptian linen is named again in Ezek 27:7, 'Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt', which Tyre used for its sail.

Verse 21

much fair speech — 'Fair speech' is leqach, the word rendered 'doctrine' in Prov 4:2, 'I give you good doctrine'. 'Flattering' is chelek, smoothness, from the same root as the 'flattereth' of v.5; 'forced' is nadach, to thrust or drive, the verb of Ps 5:10, 'cast them out'.

Verse 22

as an ox goeth to the slaughter — 'Straightway' (pith'om) is suddenly; 'slaughter' is tebach, butchery. 'Stocks' is ekes, a fetter for the feet, found elsewhere only in Isa 3:18, where it is the 'tinkling ornaments' about the feet. 'Correction' is musar, discipline: the fool walks to the fetter.

Verse 23

knoweth not that it is for his life — 'Liver' is kabed, the heaviest of the viscera, so the dart reaches a vital organ. The bird 'hasteth to the snare' (pach, a spring-net) not knowing it is for its nephesh, its life. Prov 1:17 states the contrast: 'in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird'.

Verse 24

O ye children — The singular 'my son' of v.1 has become the plural banim, sons, as at Prov 5:7, 'Hear me now therefore, O ye children', and 4:1. 'Attend' is qashab, to prick up the ears. The narrative ends with the same call that opened the chapter, to hear and keep the words.

Verse 26

many strong men — 'Wounded' is chalal, one pierced through, and 'strong' is atsum, mighty: the fallen include the mighty. Solomon, whose proverbs these are (Prov 1:1), is a case: 'Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?' (Neh 13:26); he 'loved many strange women' (1 Kings 11:1).

Verse 27

the way to hell — 'Hell' is sheol, the place of the dead, and 'going down' (yarad) gives the direction: her house 'inclineth unto death' (Prov 2:18), and 'her steps take hold on hell' (Prov 5:5). 'Chambers' are cheder, inner rooms: the house with its chamber ends in the chambers of death.