Proverbs 2:16
in Proverbs 2It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;
KJV
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
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This verse in Proverbs 2
Commentary
5 notes on this verseTo deliver thee from the strange woman,.... As the Gospel of Christ and its doctrines, or the instructions of wisdom, are a means of delivering persons from the evil man, his company, ways, and works; so from a naughty woman, an adulteress, called a "strange" woman; not because of another nation, or unknown, but because she belongs to another person, and not to him whom she entices into her embraces.
This site's exposition
To deliver thee from the strange woman
on Proverbs 2:16-19
To deliver thee from the strange woman opens the second deliverance and the chapter's first mention of a figure the book returns to at length in chapters 5 and 7, here named simply as the stranger which flattereth with her words. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God locates her danger in broken covenant rather than only broken marriage, the language deliberately covenantal. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead states the ending in the starkest terms the chapter offers, none that go unto her return again, a warning the bench reads as absolute rather than merely likely.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
To deliver you from the strange woman, etc. This verse depends on what was said earlier, where it was said, Prudence will watch over you. And the meaning is, Prudence will watch over you, to deliver you from the strange woman. Therefore, because previously Solomon …
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The stranger which flattereth with her words - החליקה hechelikah, she that smooths with her words. The original intimates the glib, oily speeches of a prostitute. The English lick is supposed to be derived from the original word.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The second great evil, the warnings against which are frequent (see the marginal reference). Two words are used to describe the class. (1) “The strange woman” is one who does not belong to the family, one who by birth is outside the covenant of Israel. (2) “The stranger” is none other than a foreigner. It is the word used of the “strange” wives of Solomon 1Ki 11:1, 1Ki 11:8, and of those of the Jews who returned from Babylon (Ezra 10; passim). The two words together, in connection with those which follow, and which imply at once marriage and a profession of religious faith, point to some interesting facts in the social history of Israel. Whatever form the sin here referred to had assumed before the monarchy (and the Book of Judges testifies to its frequency), the contact with Phoenicians and other nations under Solomon had a strong tendency to increase it. The king’s example would naturally be followed, and it probably became a fashion to have foreign wives and concubines. At first, it would seem, this was accompanied by some show of proselytism Pro 2:17; but the old pagan leaven (influence) presently broke out; the sensual worship of other gods led the way to a life of harlotry. The stringent laws of the Mosaic code Lev 19:29; Lev 21:9; Deu 23:18 probably deterred the women of Israel from that sin, and led to a higher standard of purity among them than prevailed among other nations. Most interpreters have, however, generalized the words as speaking of any adulteress. The Septuagint as if reluctant to speak of facts so shameful, has allegorized them, and seen in the temptress the personification of “evil counsel.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
To save you from a strange woman From the assembly of idolatry [apostasy], which is sectarianism.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְ֭הַצִּ֣ילְךָ | lehatzilekha | to deliver you | H5337 → | 212 times |
| מֵאִשָּׁ֣ה | meishah | from a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| זָרָ֑ה | zarah | strange | H2114 → | 77 times |
| מִ֝נָּכְרִיָּ֗ה | minakheriyah | from a foreign [woman] | H5237 → | 45 times |
| אֲמָרֶ֥יהָ | ʾamareiha | [who] words her | H561 → | 49 times |
| הֶחֱלִֽיקָה׃ | hechelikah | she makes smooth | H2505 → | 65 times |
לְ֭הַצִּ֣ילְךָto deliver you
lehatzilekhaH5337 →212 times
מֵאִשָּׁ֣הfrom a woman
meishahH802 →781 times
זָרָ֑הstrange
zarahH2114 →77 times
מִ֝נָּכְרִיָּ֗הfrom a foreign [woman]
minakheriyahH5237 →45 times
אֲמָרֶ֥יהָ[who] words her
ʾamareihaH561 →49 times
הֶחֱלִֽיקָה׃she makes smooth
hechelikahH2505 →65 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ecclesiastes 7:26And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is…
it leads to
- Proverbs 22:14
The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 5:3–5
Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- Ecclesiastes 2:26
To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over…
- Proverbs 2:18–19
For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
- Proverbs 22:14
Through
Proverbs 22:14The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 7:26
And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 23:27
For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
- Proverbs 6:24–29
to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
- Ecclesiastes 7:26
Through
Proverbs 6:24to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
it leads to
- Proverbs 5:3
Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- Proverbs 5:3
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).