Proverbs 2:18
in Proverbs 2For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;
KJV
For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
⋯
This verse in Proverbs 2
Commentary
8 notes on this verseFor her house inclineth unto death - It is generally in by and secret places that such women establish themselves. They go out of the high road to get a residence; and every step that is taken towards their house is a step towards death. The path of sin is the path of ruin: the path of duty is the way of safety. For her paths incline unto the dead, רפאים repheim, the inhabitants of the invisible world.
This site's exposition
It will rescue you from the forbidden woman
on Proverbs 2:16-19
“It will rescue you from the forbidden woman” opens the second deliverance. She “forgets the covenant of her God,” so her danger lies in broken covenant as well as broken marriage. Her house “sinks down to death,” and the warning is absolute: “None who go to her return”.
This site's exposition
her tracks to the departed spirits
The departed spirits translates rephaim, the shades of the dead. Adam Clarke pictures her house set off the high road, so that every step toward it is a step toward death. Her door opens downward.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
For her house is inclined to death, etc. Every behavior of the adulteress leads to destruction, and although she seems sweet and gentle, she will feel no less vengeance at the end than those who serve with open impiety by robbery. The house of the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
For - Conversation with her (which was most usual in her own house) is the certain way to death, which it brings many ways, and undoubtedly, without repentance, to God's wrath and the second death.
For her house inclineth unto death,....
Take heed of the sin of whoredom; for, First, The ruin of those who are guilty of it is certain and unavoidable, if they do not repent. It is a sin that has a direct tendency to the killing of the soul, the extinguishing of all good affections and dispositions in it, and the exposing of it to the wrath and curse of God and the sword of his justice.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The house of the adulteress is as Hades, the realm of death, haunted by the spectral shadows of the dead (Rephaim, see the Psa 88:10 note), who have perished there.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
for her house sinks to death This refers back to “to save you, etc.” for whoever comes to her house will sink and slip as if down an incline that leads to death, and the Torah will guard you from this fall. Hence, it is a great thing for you.
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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| שָׁ֣חָה | shachah | she sank down | H7743 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מָ֣וֶת | mavet | death | H4194 → | 156 times |
| בֵּיתָ֑הּ | beitah | house her | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| רְ֝פָאִ֗ים | refaim | [the] shades | H7496 → | 8 times |
| מַעְגְּלֹתֶֽיהָ׃ | ma'geloteiha | tracks her | H4570 → | 16 times |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
שָׁ֣חָהshe sank down
shachahH7743 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מָ֣וֶתdeath
mavetH4194 →156 times
בֵּיתָ֑הּhouse her
beitahH1004 →2046 times
וְאֶל־and to
veel-H413 →5510 times
רְ֝פָאִ֗ים[the] shades
refaimH7496 →8 times
מַעְגְּלֹתֶֽיהָ׃tracks her
ma'geloteihaH4570 →16 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
Ephesians 5:5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
it leads to
- Galatians 5:21
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
- Colossians 3:5
Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
- Ephesians 5:3
But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Galatians 5:21
Through
Proverbs 9:18But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
it leads to
- Proverbs 7:27
Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.
- Proverbs 2:18–19
For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
- Proverbs 5:5
Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.
- Proverbs 7:27
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.