Proverbs 5:5
in Proverbs 5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol;
KJV
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
⋯
This verse in Proverbs 5
Commentary
4 notes on this verseHer feet go down to death,.... The ways in which she walks, and in which she leads others, issue oftentimes in corporeal death; and always in eternal death, if grace prevent not; and unless men are brought to a sense of sin, to repent of it and leave it. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "the feet of imprudence" or "folly", in opposition to wisdom; that is, the feet of the foolish woman, such an one the harlot is; and such is the whore of Rome, notwithstanding all her boasted knowledge and wisdom.
This site's exposition
pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight
on Proverbs 5:1-6
The son is told to “maintain discretion” before the warning names its subject, because the danger of “the forbidden woman” begins with pleasant speech. Her end reverses her opening, “bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword,” a taste that shows only after the sweet one has worked.
This site's exposition
her steps lead straight to Sheol
Proverbs 7:27 calls her house the road to Sheol, the grave. John Gill notes that the Septuagint reads the feet of folly, setting her against wisdom. Her path runs one way, down to death.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Her feet go down to death - She first, like a serpent, infuses her poison, by which the whole constitution of her paramour is infected, which soon or late brings on death. Her steps take hold on hell - First, the death of the body; and then the damnation of the soul. These are the tendencies of connections with such women.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רַ֭גְלֶיהָ | ragleiha | feet her | H7272 → | 247 times |
| יֹרְד֣וֹת | yoredot | [are] going down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| מָ֑וֶת | mavet | death | H4194 → | 156 times |
| שְׁ֝א֗וֹל | sheol | Sheol | H7585 → | 66 times |
| צְעָדֶ֥יהָ | tzeadeiha | steps her | H6806 → | 14 times |
| יִתְמֹֽכוּ׃ | yitmokhu | they will attain | H8551 → | 21 times |
רַ֭גְלֶיהָfeet her
ragleihaH7272 →247 times
יֹרְד֣וֹת[are] going down
yoredotH3381 →381 times
מָ֑וֶתdeath
mavetH4194 →156 times
שְׁ֝א֗וֹלSheol
sheolH7585 →66 times
צְעָדֶ֥יהָsteps her
tzeadeihaH6806 →14 times
יִתְמֹֽכוּ׃they will attain
yitmokhuH8551 →21 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
4 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 7:27Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.
it leads to
- Proverbs 9:18
But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Proverbs 2:18–19
For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
- 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…
- Proverbs 9:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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.