Albert Barnes

She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.

“Rubies - The פנינים pânı̂ynı̂ym were among the costly articles of traffic, and red or rose-colored Lam 4:7. The last fact has led some to identify them with coral, or (as in the King James Version) with “rubies.””

All her ways are pleasant, and all her paths are peaceful.

““Ways” and “paths” describe the two kinds of roads, the “highway” and the “byway.” In both these he who was guided by Wisdom would walk securely.”

The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding.

“Hereto Wisdom has been thought of in relation to men. Now the question comes, What is she in relation to God? and the answer is, that the creative act implies a Divine Wisdom, through which the Divine will acts. This thought, developed in Prov.”

Do not fear sudden danger or the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

“Under the form of this strong prohibition there is an equally strong promise. So safe will all thy ways be that to fear will be a sin.”

Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act.

“A marked change in style. The continuous exhortation is replaced by a series of maxims. From them to whom it is due - literally, as in the margin.”

Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

“The words “ye children” indicate as usual a new section returning, after the break of Pro 3:27-35, to the old strain of fatherly counsel.”

When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother,

“Probably the words of Solomon himself, who looks back from his glorious throne and his matured wisdom to the training which was the starting point.”

Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.

“Better, as in the margin, i. e., with more vigilance than men use over anything else. The words that follow carry on the same similitude. The fountains and wells of the East were watched over with special care.”

Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.

“The ever-recurring image of the straight road on which no one ever loses his way represents here as elsewhere the onward course through life of the man who seeks and finds wisdom.”

lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;

“Thine honor - i. e., “The grace and freshness of thy youth” (compare Hos 14:6; Dan 10:8). The thought of this is to guard the young man against the sins that stain and mar it.”

lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

“Strangers - The whole gang of those into whose hands the slave of lust yields himself. The words are significant as showing that the older punishment of death Deu 22:21; Eze 16:38; Joh 8:5 was not always inflicted, and that the detected adulterer was exposed…”

Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

“The teacher seeks to counteract the evils of mere sensual passion chiefly by setting forth the true blessedness of which it is the counterfeit. The true wife is as a fountain of refreshment, where the weary soul may quench its thirst.”

A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.

“Better, “A loving hind (is she) and pleasant roe.” As in the whole circle of Arab and Persian poetry the antelope and the gazelle are the chosen images of beauty, so they served with equal fitness for the masculine and feminine types of it.”

For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.

“One more warning. The sin is not against man, nor dependent on man’s detection only. The secret sin is open before the eyes of Yahweh. In the balance of His righteous judgment are weighed all human acts.”

He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.

“The end of the sensual life: to “die without instruction,” life ended, but the discipline of life fruitless; to “go astray,” as if drunk with the greatness of his folly (the same word is used as for “ravished” in Pro 5:19, see marg.), even to…”

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,

“Surety - The “pledge,” or security for payment, which, for example, David was to bring back from his brothers 1Sa 17:18. So the word was used in the primitive trade transactions of the early Israelites.”

then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor.

“Better, “Do this now, O my son, and free thyself when thou hast come into thy friend’s house; go, how thyself down (perhaps “stamp with thy foot,” or “hasten”), press hotly upon thy friend.”

Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler,

“The words express the wonder with which the Hebrew observer looked on the phenomena of insect life. “Guide,” better captain, as in Jos 10:24. The Septuagint introduces here a corresponding reference to the industry of the bee.”

and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

“The similitude is drawn from the two sources of Eastern terror: the “traveler,” i. e., “the thief in the night,” coming suddenly to plunder; the “armed man,” literally “the man of the shield,” the armed robber.”

Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck.

“The thought of Pro 3:3 is carried step further. No outward charm, but the law of obedience, shall give safety to the traveler, when he sleeps or when he wakes.”

Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

“Eyelids - Possibly pointing to the Eastern custom of painting the eyes on the outside with kohl so as to give brightness and languishing expression.”

My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.

“The harlot adulteress of an Eastern city is contrasted with the true feminine ideal of the Wisdom who is to be the “sister” and “kinswoman” Pro 7:4 of the young man as he goes on his way through life. See Prov. 8 in the introduction.”

I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment,

“Simple - In the bad sense of the word (Pro 1:22 note); “open” to all impressions of evil, empty-headed and empty-hearted; lounging near the house of ill-repute, not as yet deliberately purposing to sin, but placing himself in the way of it at a time…”

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon.

“The love of perfumes is here, as in Isa 3:24, a sign of luxurious vice. Cinnamon - The Hebrew word is identical with the English.”

For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.

“The reference to the husband is probably a blind. The use of the word “goodman” is due to the wish of the English translators to give a colloquial character to this part of their Version. The Hebrew is merely “the man.””