Proverbs 30:20
in Proverbs 30This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So is the way of an adulterous woman; She eateth, and wipeth her mouth, And saith, I have done no wickedness.
KJV
Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
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This verse in Proverbs 30
Commentary
7 notes on this verseI will describe two persons who have sinned the same abominable sin of fornication, yet between these two who have fornicated, the one is not aggrieved nor feels pain nor is vexed but experiences what was said in Proverbs concerning the adulterous woman "who having washed herself, if she does something, says she has done nothing wrong." See with me the other who after the mistake is unable to contain himself but punishes the conscience, tortures the heart, is unable to eat and drink, who fasts not because of a judgment but because of grief of repentance.
This site's exposition
There are three things too wonderful for me
on Proverbs 30:18-20
Agur names four ways too wonderful, an eagle, a snake, a ship, and a man with a maiden, four paths that leave no trace. Verse 20 turns the saying on the adulteress. What is wonder in nature becomes moral evasion in a woman who treats sin as leaving no mark.
This site's exposition
This is the way of an adulteress
Origen of Alexandria contrasts two people guilty of the same sin. One feels no pain and says, like this woman, that she has done nothing wrong. The other cannot eat or drink for grief and punishes his own conscience in repentance.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Such is the way of a prostitute: when she has washed herself she says that she has done something wrong." Clearly this is said of her who, after having washed herself at the source, does not remember the vices of her sins, assumes the virtue …
A commentator
Hippolytus of RomeFragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture · Written before 235.
proposed
"Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who, when she has done the deed of sin, wipeth herself, and will say that no wickedness has been done." Such is the conduct of the Church that believes on Christ, when, after committing fornication with idols, she renounces these and the devil, and is cleansed of her sins and receives forgiveness, and then asserts that she has done no wickedness.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Such is the way of an adulterous woman,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Hypocrisy is illustrated by four examples of the concealment of all methods or traces of action, and a pertinent example of double dealing in actual vice is added, that is, the adulterous woman.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֵּ֤ן׀ | ken | [is] thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| דֶּ֥רֶךְ | derekh | [the] way of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| אִשָּׁ֗ה | ʾishah | a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| מְנָ֫אָ֥פֶת | menaafet | adulterous | H5003 → | |
| אָ֭כְלָה | ʾakhelah | she eats | H398 → | 810 times |
| וּמָ֣חֲתָה | umachatah | and she wipes clean | H4229 → | 36 times |
| פִ֑יהָ | fiha | mouth her | H6310 → | 498 times |
| וְ֝אָמְרָ֗ה | veamerah | and she says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| פָעַ֥לְתִּי | faalti | I have done | H6466 → | 57 times |
| אָֽוֶן׃ פ | ʾaven | wickedness | H205 → | 77 times |
כֵּ֤ן׀[is] thus
kenH3651 →771 times
דֶּ֥רֶךְ[the] way of
derekhH1870 →707 times
אִשָּׁ֗הa woman
ʾishahH802 →781 times
מְנָ֫אָ֥פֶתadulterous
menaafetH5003 →
אָ֭כְלָהshe eats
ʾakhelahH398 →810 times
וּמָ֣חֲתָהand she wipes clean
umachatahH4229 →36 times
פִ֑יהָmouth her
fihaH6310 →498 times
וְ֝אָמְרָ֗הand she says
veamerahH559 →5305 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
פָעַ֥לְתִּיI have done
faaltiH6466 →57 times
אָֽוֶן׃ פwickedness
ʾavenH205 →77 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 5:6She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
it leads to
- Proverbs 4:26
Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure.
- Psalms 16:11
You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
- Proverbs 5:21
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
- Proverbs 6:12–13
A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth,
- Psalms 119:59
I considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.
- Proverbs 4:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Hippolytus of Rome, Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Maximus of Turin, SERMON 22:3 and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 20:9.1-2.