Text -- Proverbs 7:21-27 (NET)

7:21 She persuaded him with persuasive words; with her smooth talk she compelled him. 7:22 Suddenly he went after her like an ox that goes to the slaughter, like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare 7:23 till an arrow pierces his liver– like a bird hurrying into a trap, and he does not know that it will cost him his life. 7:24 So now, sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words I speak. 7:25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways– do not wander into her pathways; 7:26 for she has brought down many fatally wounded, and all those she has slain are many. 7:27 Her house is the way to the grave, going down to the chambers of death.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Pro 7:21

¹ tn Heb “she turned him aside.” This expression means that she persuaded him. This section now begins the description of the capitulation, for the flattering speech is finished.

² sn The term לֶקַח (leqakh) was used earlier in Proverbs for wise instruction; now it is used ironically for enticement to sin (see D. W. Thomas, “Textual and Philological Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 280-92).

³ tn Heb “smooth of her lips”; cf. NAB “smooth lips”; NASB “flattering lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause representing what she says.

⁴ tn The verb means “to impel; to thrust; to banish,” but in this stem in this context “to compel; to force” into some action. The imperfect tense has the nuance of progressive imperfect to parallel the characteristic perfect of the first colon.

NET Notes: Pro 7:22

¹ tn The participle with “suddenly” gives a more vivid picture, almost as if to say “there he goes.”

² tn The present translation follows R. B. Y. Scott (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes [AB], 64). This third colon of the verse would usually be rendered, “fetters to the chastening of a fool” (KJV, ASV, and NASB are all similar). But there is no support that עֶכֶס (’ekhes) means “fetters.” It appears in Isaiah 3:16 as “anklets.” The parallelism here suggests that some animal imagery is required. Thus the ancient versions have “as a dog to the bonds.”

NET Notes: Pro 7:23

¹ sn The figure of an arrow piercing the liver (an implied comparison) may refer to the pangs of a guilty conscience that the guilty must reap along with the spiritual and physical ruin that follows (see on these expressions H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament).

² tn The expression that it is “for/about/over his life” means that it could cost him his life (e.g., Num 16:38). Alternatively, the line could refer to moral corruption and social disgrace rather than physical death – but this would not rule out physical death too.

NET Notes: Pro 7:24

¹ tn The literal translation “sons” works well here in view of the warning. Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “children.”

² tn Heb “the words of my mouth.”

NET Notes: Pro 7:26

¹ tn Heb “she has caused to fall.”

² tn Heb “numerous” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT) or “countless.”

NET Notes: Pro 7:27

¹ tn The noun “Sheol” in parallelism to “the chambers of death” probably means the grave. The noun is a genitive of location, indicating the goal of the road(s). Her house is not the grave; it is, however, the sure way to it.

sn Her house is the way to the grave. The young man’s life is not destroyed in one instant; it is taken from him gradually as he enters into a course of life that will leave him as another victim of the wages of sin. The point of the warning is to prevent such a course from starting. Sin can certainly be forgiven, but the more involvement in this matter the greater the alienation from the healthy community.

² tn The Qal active participle modifies “ways” to Sheol. The “road,” as it were, descends to the place of death.

³ tn “Chambers” is a hypocatastasis, comparing the place of death or the grave with a bedroom in the house. It plays on the subtlety of the temptation. Cf. NLT “Her bedroom is the den of death.”