Proverbs 7 · ESV Study Bible

Warnings Against Adultery

Warning Against the Adulteress

PROVERBS 7 [†] h My son, keep my words

and h treasure up my commandments with you;

2 i keep my commandments and live;

keep my teaching as j the apple of your eye;

3 k bind them on your fingers;

k write them on the tablet of your heart.

4[†] Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

and call insight your intimate friend,

5 to keep you from l the forbidden [1] woman,

from l the adulteress [2] with her smooth words.

6[†] For at m the window of my house

I have looked out through my lattice,

7 and I have seen among n the simple,

I have perceived among the youths,

a young man o lacking sense,

8 passing along the street p near her corner,

taking the road to her house

9 in q the twilight, in the evening,

at r the time of night and darkness.

10 And behold, the woman meets him,

s dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. [3]

11[†] She is t loud and u wayward;

v her feet do not stay at home;

12 now in the street, now in the market,

and w at every corner she x lies in wait.

13[†] She seizes him and kisses him,

and with y bold face she says to him,

14 “I had to z offer sacrifices, [4]

and today I have a paid my vows;

15 so now I have come out to meet you,

to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

16 I have spread my couch with b coverings,

colored linens from c Egyptian linen;

17 I have perfumed my bed with d myrrh,

aloes, and e cinnamon.

18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;

let us delight ourselves with love.

19 For f my husband is not at home;

he has gone on a long journey;

20 he took a bag of money with him;

at full moon he will come home.”

21[^] With much seductive speech she persuades him;

with g her smooth talk she compels him.

22[†] All at once he follows her,

as an ox goes to the slaughter,

or as a stag is caught fast [5]

23 till an arrow pierces its liver;

as h a bird rushes into a snare;

he does not know that it will cost him his life.

24[†] And i now, O sons, listen to me,

and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;

do not stray into her paths,

26[†] for many a victim has she laid low,

and all her slain are j a mighty throng.

27 Her house is k the way to Sheol,

going down to the chambers of death.

PROVERBS—NOTE ON 7:1–27 Tenth Paternal Appeal: Keep Away from Temptations to Adultery. The appeal begins with the plea for the son to take the father’s wise instruction to heart in order to keep himself away from the adulteress (vv. 1–5). The main section is a narrative about a man who willingly allows himself to be entrapped by the adulteress (vv. 6–23). The final verses appeal to the sons (plural, v. 24) to learn the point of the narrative: wisdom includes keeping off paths that one knows will lead to temptation, paths on which many have walked naively to their own ruin (vv. 24–26). This is the third paternal warning about adultery (see 5:1–23; 6:20–35).

PROVERBS—NOTE ON 7:22–23 Once again the foolish path is described as a trap (slaughter, caught fast, snare) that ends in destruction (cf. 1:17–19; 5:22; 6:2, 5).

PROVERBS—NOTE ON 7:26–27 The image of many a victim … a mighty throng having fallen to her advances, as if she were a warrior, is given as further grounds for staying away, and warns the sons against the foolish pride of presuming they would be different. Although the woman invites the fool to her bed (v. 17) in her home (v. 19) for immediate pleasure, the nature of the path to her house will entangle him in a way that, in the end, leads to the chambers of death. In mentioning Sheol, the text is indicating that the consequences go beyond this life (cf. 23:13–14): life and death in Proverbs commonly correspond to a right relationship to God and estrangement from him, continuing beyond the grave (cf. 12:28).

PROVERBS—NOTE ON 7:13–20 The woman uses whatever she can as part of her appeal. She puts the young man off his guard: Israelite culture apparently discouraged the romantic kiss in public (see note on Song 8:1), and this bold face (Prov. 7:13) would set the man back; she flatters him into thinking he is someone special (to meet you, to seek you eagerly, v. 15); she promises sensual delights (vv. 16–18) and security from discovery (her husband will not be back anytime soon, vv. 19–20). The sacrifices (v. 14) are probably “peace offerings” (see esv footnote). The implication is that she has a supply of meat at home (a luxury item; cf. 17:1). This is a stark example of a disconnect between her religious practice (the peace offering was intended to foster communion with God) and the path of her life—a disconnect that the prophets so often condemn (see note on Isa. 1:10–20).

PROVERBS—NOTE ON 7:4 Sister in ancient texts sometimes refers to one’s wife as a dear companion, as in Song 5:1. Thus, the idea may be that one should bind himself to Wisdom and not the adulteress.

PROVERBS—NOTE ON 7:11–12 The woman is described in terms somewhat like Wisdom, who cried aloud in the streets and markets (see 1:20–21), but the implication is that her actions (loud, wayward, in the street, in the market) embody a deceptive heart and are those of the woman Folly (see 9:13–18).