Proverbs 7:26
in Proverbs 7For she has brought many down to death; her slain are many in number.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For she hath cast down many wounded: Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.
KJV
For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
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This verse in Proverbs 7
Commentary
9 notes on this verseFor she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her - That is, such like women have been the ruin of many. חללים chalalim, which we render wounded, also signifies solsliers or men of war; and עצמים atsumim, which we render strong men, may be translated heroes. Many of those who have distinguished themselves in the field and in the cabinet have been overcome and destroyed by their mistresses. History is full of such examples.
This site's exposition
Now, my sons, listen to me
on Proverbs 7:24-27
The father widens the address from one son to “my sons,” and one man's story becomes a warning for every reader who has watched it. The chapter closes on “Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death,” the choice between life and death.
This site's exposition
her slain are many in number
Clarke notes that the word for slain can also mean men of war, and that the many brought down can be read as mighty men. Her slain are soldiers and heroes. Her house is their battlefield.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
You have seen her mischief. Wait not to admit the rising of lust; for her death is everlasting. And for the rest, by her words, her arguments in sooth, she wounds, and by her sins she kills those who yield to her. For many are the forms of wickedness that lead the foolish down to hell. And the chambers of death mean either its depths or its treasure. How, then, is escape possible?
The Medieval Church1 voice
And all the mighty men were slain by her. As Solomon himself, the wisest of men, as Samson, the strongest, as David, the most gentle, were ensnared by the trap of women, just as Origen was by heretical doctrine, whom whoever denies to have been …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Herein, perhaps, he has an eye especially to Samson, who was slain by this sin, and perhaps to David too, who by this sin entailed a sword upon his house, though so far the Lord took it away that he himself should not die.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. 4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: 5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. These verses are an introduction to his warning against fleshly lusts, much the same with that, ch. vi.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:42w-of-60
For she hath cast down many wounded,.... Wounded in their name, character, and reputation; in their bodies by diseases; and in their souls by guilt, shame, and horror, through a compliance with her sinful lusts: these she "cast down" from the honours they were possessed of, from the health they enjoyed, and from the peace and tranquillity of mind they formerly felt within them.
1 more voice on this verse
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 harlot is now likened to a field of battle strewn with the corpses of the many slain.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| רַבִּ֣ים | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
| חֲלָלִ֣ים | chalalim | slain [ones] | H2491 → | |
| הִפִּ֑ילָה | hipilah | she has made fall | H5307 → | 435 times |
| וַ֝עֲצֻמִ֗ים | vaatzumim | and [are] numerous | H6099 → | 31 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הֲרֻגֶֽיהָ׃ | harugeiha | killed [men] her | H2026 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
רַבִּ֣יםmany
rabimH7227 →454 times
חֲלָלִ֣יםslain [ones]
chalalimH2491 →
הִפִּ֑ילָהshe has made fall
hipilahH5307 →435 times
וַ֝עֲצֻמִ֗יםand [are] numerous
vaatzumimH6099 →31 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הֲרֻגֶֽיהָ׃killed [men] her
harugeihaH2026 →
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
1 Peter 2:11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
it leads to
- 1 John 2:15–17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Galatians 5:24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- 1 Peter 4:2
Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.
- Hebrews 11:13
All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the…
- Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- 1 John 2:15–17
Through
1 Corinthians 10:8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
it leads to
- Numbers 25:1–9
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
- 1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
- Psalms 106:29
So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
- Numbers 25:1–9
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; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.