Proverbs 7:5
in Proverbs 7that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the foreigner that flattereth with her words.
KJV
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
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This verse in Proverbs 7
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
My son, keep my words
on Proverbs 7:1-5
The father's appeal opens exactly as chapters 2, 3 and 6 have opened it, commandments bound on the fingers and written on the table of the heart, and the bench reads the repetition as intentional rather than tired: a son does not learn this once. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister makes the safeguard relational, a kinship claimed on wisdom before the stranger's flattery ever arrives, so that the whole chapter's warning is framed before the chapter's story begins. The purpose is stated plainly at verse 5, that they may keep thee from the strange woman, and everything that follows is the case for why the guard is needed.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
That they may keep thee from the strange woman,....
23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Solomon here, to enforce the caution he had given against the sin of whoredom, tells a story of a young man that was ruined to all intents and purposes by the enticements of an adulterous woman.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The strange woman - The prostitute, the adulteress.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לִ֭שְׁמָרְךָ | lishmarekha | to keep you | H8104 → | 468 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 |
לִ֭שְׁמָרְךָto keep you
lishmarekhaH8104 →468 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
Proverbs 5:3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
it leads to
- Proverbs 2:16
It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 6:24
to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 55:21
His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.
- Proverbs 2:16
Through
Proverbs 6:24to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
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 5:3
Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- Ecclesiastes 7:26
Through
Proverbs 2:16It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
it leads to
- Proverbs 23:27
For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
- 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.
- Proverbs 7:5–23
that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.
- Proverbs 23:27
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.