Proverbs 7
7
1My son, keep my words,
And lay up my commandments with thee.
2Keep my commandments, and live;
And my law as the apple of thine eye.
3Bind them upon thy fingers,
Write them upon the table of thine heart.
4Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister;
And call understanding thy kinswoman:
5That they may keep thee from the strange woman,
From the stranger which flattereth with her words.
6For at the window of my house
I looked through my casement,
7And beheld among the simple ones,
I discerned among the youths,
A young man void of understanding,
8Passing through the street near her corner;
And he went the way to her house,
9In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night:
10And, behold, there met him a woman
With the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11(She is loud and stubborn;
Her feet abide not in her house:
12Now is she without, now in the streets,
And lieth in wait at every corner.)
13So she caught him, and kissed him,
And with an impudent face said unto him,
14 I have peace offerings with me;
This day have I payed my vows.
15Therefore came I forth to meet thee,
Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry,
With carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
17I have perfumed my bed
With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning:
Let us solace ourselves with loves.
19For the goodman is not at home,
He is gone a long journey:
20He hath taken a bag of money with him,
And will come home at the day appointed.
21With her much fair speech she caused him to yield,
With the flattering of her lips she forced him.
22He goeth after her straightway,
As an ox goeth to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
23Till a dart strike through his liver;
As a bird hasteth to the snare,
And knoweth not that it is for his life.
24Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children,
And attend to the words of my mouth.
25Let not thine heart decline to her ways,
Go not astray in her paths.
26For she hath cast down many wounded:
Yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
27Her house is the way to hell,
Going down to the chambers of death.
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Proverbs 7: KJV
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Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Published by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
Learn More About King James VersionProverbs 7
7
The Seduction#The third and climactic instruction on adultery and seduction is an example story, of the same type as the example story in 24:30–34. By its negative portrayal of the deceitful woman, who speaks in the night to a lone youth, it serves as a foil to trustworthy Wisdom in chap. 8, who speaks in broad daylight to all who pass in the street.As in 6:20–24, the father warns his son to keep his teaching to protect him from the dangerous forbidden woman. The father’s language in 7:4 (“Say to Wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call Understanding ‘Friend’”) sets this admonition apart, however; it is the language of courtship and love. If the son makes Woman Wisdom his companion and lover, she will protect him from the other woman. As in chap. 5, loving the right woman protects the man from the wrong woman.As motivation, the father in vv. 6–23 tells his son of an incident he once observed while looking out his window—a young man went to the bed of an adulterous woman and wound up dead. As in chap. 5, the realistic details—the purposeful woman, the silent youth, the vow, the perfumed bed—have a metaphorical level. Ultimately the story is about two different kinds of love.
1#Verses 1–3 are artistically constructed. “Keep” in v. 1a recurs in v. 2a; “commands” in v. 1b recurs in v. 2a; the imperative verb “live” occurs in the very center of the three lines; v. 3, on preserving the teaching upon one’s very person, matches vv. 1–2, on preserving the teaching internally by memorizing it. My son, keep my words,
and treasure my commands.
2Keep my commands and live,#Live: here as elsewhere (Gn 20:7; 42:18; 2 Kgs 18:32; Jer 27:12, 17; Ez 18:32), the imperative (“Live!”) is uttered against the danger of death, e.g., “Do such and such and you will live (= survive the danger); why should you die?”
and my teaching as the apple of your eye;
3Bind them on your fingers,
write them on the tablet of your heart.#Dt 6:8.
4Say to Wisdom, “You are my sister!”#You are my sister: “sister” and “brother” are examples of love language in the ancient Near East, occurring in Egyptian love poetry and Mesopotamian marriage songs. In Sg 4:9, 10, 12; 5:1, the man calls the woman, “my sister, my bride.” Intimate friendship with Woman Wisdom saves one from false and dangerous relationships.
Call Understanding, “Friend!”
5That they may keep you from a stranger,
from the foreign woman with her smooth words.#Prv 2:16; 6:24.
6For at the window of my house,
through my lattice I looked out#I looked out…I saw… : the perspective is unusual. The narrator looks through a window upon the drama in the street.
7And I saw among the naive,
I observed among the young men,
a youth with no sense,
8Crossing the street near the corner,
then walking toward her house,
9In the twilight, at dusk of day,
in the very dark of night.
10Then the woman comes to meet him,
dressed like a harlot, with secret designs.
11She is raucous and unruly,
her feet cannot stay at home;
12Now she is in the streets, now in the open squares,
lurking in ambush at every corner.
13Then she grabs him, kisses him,
and with an impudent look says to him:
14“I owed peace offerings,
and today I have fulfilled my vows;
15So I came out to meet you,
to look for you, and I have found you!
16With coverlets I have spread my couch,
with brocaded cloths of Egyptian linen;
17I have sprinkled my bed#Bed: a bed can designate a place of burial in Is 57:2; Ez 32:25; 2 Chr 16:14. Myrrh…aloes: the spices could be used for funerals as for weddings (Jn 19:39). It is possible that the language is ambivalent, speaking of death as it seems to speak of life. As the woman offers the youth a nuptial feast, she is in reality describing his funerary feast. with myrrh,
with aloes, and with cinnamon.
18Come, let us drink our fill of love,
until morning, let us feast on love!
19For my husband is not at home,#For my husband is not at home: the woman is calculating. She knows exactly how long her husband will be gone.
he has gone on a long journey;
20A bag of money he took with him,
he will not return home till the full moon.”
21She wins him over by repeated urging,
with her smooth lips she leads him astray.#The verbs “to win over” (lit., “to lead astray”) and “to lead off” can be used of leading animals such as a donkey (Nm 22:23) or sheep (Jer 23:2 and 50:17). The animal imagery continues as the youth is compared to an ox, a fallow deer, and a bird in the moment they are slaughtered. None of the animals are aware of their impending death. #Prv 5:3; 6:24.
22He follows her impulsively,
like an ox that goes to slaughter;
Like a stag that bounds toward the net,
23till an arrow pierces its liver;
Like a bird that rushes into a snare,
unaware that his life is at stake.
24So now, children, listen to me,#The father addresses “children,” a larger audience than his own son; the story is typical, intended for others as an example. The story is a foil to the speech of the other woman in chap. 8.
be attentive to the words of my mouth!
25Do not let your heart turn to her ways,
do not go astray in her paths;
26For many are those she has struck down dead,
numerous, those she has slain.
27Her house is a highway to Sheol,
leading down into the chambers of death.#Prv 2:18–19; 5:5.
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