Matthew Henry

But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.

“Christ himself is Wisdom, is Wisdoms, for in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and he is the centre of all divine revelation, not only the essential Wisdom, but the eternal Word, by whom God speaks to us and to whom…”

Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.

“This has been the case of some even in this life, as of Saul, whom God answered not by Urim or prophets; but, ordinarily, while there is life there is room for prayer and hope of speeding, and therefore this must refer to the inexorable…”

So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.

“It will be our wisdom to walk in that way, to ask for the good old way and walk therein, Jer. vi.”

For the upright will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it;

“They shall dwell and remain for ever in the heavenly Canaan, of which the earthly one was but a type. (2.) Because men's iniquity will be their destruction,”

but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.

“They think to take root in it, but they and their families shall be rooted out of it, in judgment to them, but in mercy to the earth. There is a day coming which shall leave them neither root nor branch, Mal. iv.”

The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding. By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.

“Christ is that Wisdom, by whom the worlds were made and still consist; happy therefore are those to whom he is made of God wisdom, for he has wherewithal to make good all the foregoing promises of long life, riches, and honour; for all the…”

They will be life to your soul and adornment to your neck.

“In respect of honour and reputation: It shall be grace to thy neck, as a chain of gold, or a jewel.”

He mocks the mockers, but gives grace to the humble.

“He retaliates upon them ( Ps. xviii. 26 ); he resists the proud. (2.) Those who humble themselves shall be exalted, for he gives grace to the lowly; he works that in them which puts honour upon them and for which they are accepted of…”

Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive.

“We have reason to think that thousands have got more good by Solomon's proverbs than his own son did, to whom they seem to have been dedicated.”

When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother, he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep…

“Observe, (1.) His parents loved him, and therefore taught him: I was my father's son. David had many sons, but Solomon was his son indeed, as Isaac is called ( Gen. xvii.”

When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble.

“That our steps be not straitened when we go, that we bring not ourselves into such straits as David was in, 2 Sam. xxiv. Those that make God's word their rule shall walk at liberty, and be at ease in themselves.”

But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

“They fall into sin, but are not aware which way the temptation came by which they were overthrown, and therefore know not how to avoid it the next time.”

Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.

“The reason why we must thus make much of the words of wisdom is because they will be both food and physic to us, like the tree of life, Rev. xxii.”

For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.

“We could not live without it; we may by faith live upon it. They are health to all their flesh, to the whole man, both body and soul; they help to keep both in good plight. They are health to all flesh, so the LXX.”

Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.

“He is to take him to school himself, for, if the scholar will take no pains, the master must take the more; the sluggard is not willing to come to school to him (dreaming scholars will never love wakeful teachers) and therefore he has found…”

For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

“And that poverty must needs lie heavily which men bring themselves into by their own folly, Job xxxi. (2.) It threatens death; it kills men: The adulteress will hunt for the precious life, perhaps designedly, as Delilah for Samson's, at least, eventually, the sin strikes…”

Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away.

“It will be a wound to his good name, a dishonour to his family, and, though the guilt of it may be done away by repentance, the reproach of it never will, but will stick to his memory when he is gone.”

Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman,

“As that which we make use of for our defence and armour, to keep us from the strange woman, from sin, that flattering but destroying thing, that adulteress; particularly from the sin of uncleanness,”

“I have made my peace offerings; today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you; I sought you, and I have found you.

“(2.) Her profession of piety. She had been to-day at the temple, and was as well respected there as any that worshipped in the courts of the Lord.”

Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses!

“Of lust she means, brutish lust; but it is a pity that the name of love should be thus abused. True love is from heaven; this is from hell.”

With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him.

“Wisdom's maidens, who plead her cause, and have reason on their side, and true and divine pleasures to invite men to, have a deaf ear turned to them, and with all their rhetoric cannot compel men to come in, but such is the dominion of…”

until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

“The ox thinks he is led to the pasture when he is led to the slaughter; the fool (that is, the drunkard, for, of all sinners, drunkards are the greatest fools) is led to the correction of the stocks, and is not sensible of the…”

For she has brought many down to death; her slain are many in number.

“Herein, perhaps, he has an eye especially to Samson, who was slain by this sin, and perhaps to David too, who by this sin entailed a sword upon his house, though so far the Lord took it away that he himself should not die.”

Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

“Her house, though richly decked and furnished, and called a house of pleasure, is the way to hell; and her chambers are the stair-case that goes down to the chambers of death and everlasting darkness.”

Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice? On the heights overlooking the road, at the crossroads she takes her stand.

“The redeemer is the eternal Word and wisdom, the Logos. He is the Wisdom that speaks to the children of men in the former part of the chapter.”