Proverbs 6:24-35

6:24 by keeping ¹  you from the evil woman, ² 

from the smooth tongue of ³  the loose woman. ⁴ 

6:25 Do not lust ⁵  in your heart for her beauty,

and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; ⁶ 

6:26 for on account ⁷  of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread,

but the wife of another man ⁸  preys on your precious life. ⁹ 

6:27 Can a man hold ¹⁰  fire ¹¹  against his chest ¹² 

without ¹³  burning his clothes?

6:28 Can ¹⁴  a man walk on hot coals

without scorching his feet?

6:29 So it is with ¹⁵  the one who has sex with ¹⁶  his neighbor’s wife;

no one ¹⁷  who touches ¹⁸  her will escape ¹⁹  punishment. ²⁰ 

6:30 People ²¹  do not despise a thief when he steals

to fulfill his need ²²  when he is hungry.

6:31 Yet ²³  if he is caught ²⁴  he must repay ²⁵  seven times over,

he might even have to give ²⁶  all the wealth of his house.

6:32 A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, ²⁷ 

whoever does it destroys his own life. ²⁸ 

6:33 He will be beaten and despised, ²⁹ 

and his reproach will not be wiped away; ³⁰ 

6:34 for jealousy kindles ³¹  a husband’s ³²  rage,

and he will not show mercy ³³  when he takes revenge.

6:35 He will not consider ³⁴  any compensation; ³⁵ 

he will not be willing, even if you multiply the compensation. ³⁶ 

[6:24]  ¹ tn The infinitive construct is epexegetical here, explaining how these teachings function as lights: “by keeping you.” This verse is the transition from the general admonition about heeding the teachings to the practical application.

[6:24]  ² tc The word translated “woman” is modified by רַע (ra’, “evil”) in the sense of violating the codes of the community and inflicting harm on others. The BHS editors propose changing it to read “strange woman” as before, but there is not support for that. Some commentaries follow the LXX and read רַע as “wife of a neighbor” (cf. NAB; also NRSV “the wife of another”; CEV “someone else’s wife”) but that seems to be only a clarification.

[6:24]  ³ tn The word “tongue” is not in construct; the word “foreign woman” is in apposition to “smooth of tongue,” specifying whose it is. The word “smooth” then is the object of the preposition, “tongue” is the genitive of specification, and “foreign woman” in apposition.

[6:24]  ⁴ sn The description of the woman as a “strange woman” and now a “loose [Heb “foreign”] woman” is within the context of the people of Israel. She is a “foreigner” in the sense that she is a nonconformist, wayward, and loose. It does not necessarily mean that she is not ethnically an Israelite.

[6:25]  ⁵ tn The negated jussive gives the young person an immediate warning. The verb חָמַד (khamad) means “to desire,” and here in the sense of lust. The word is used in the Decalogue of Deut 5:21 for the warning against coveting.

[6:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “her eyelids” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “eyelashes”; TEV “flirting eyes”). This term is a synecdoche of part (eyelids) for the whole (eyes) or a metonymy of association for painted eyes and the luring glances that are the symptoms of seduction (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:30). The term “alluring” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarification.

[6:26]  ⁷ tn The word בְעַד (bÿ’ad) may be taken either as “on account of” (= by means of a) prostitute (cf. ASV, NASB), or “for the price of” a prostitute (cf. NAB). Most expositors take the first reading, though that use of the preposition is unattested, and then must supply “one is brought to.” The verse would then say that going to a prostitute can bring a man to poverty, but going to another man’s wife can lead to death. If the second view were taken, it would mean that one had a smaller price than the other. It is not indicating that one is preferable to the other; both are to be avoided.

[6:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “the wife of a man.”

[6:26]  ⁹ tn These two lines might be an example of synthetic parallelism, that is, “A, what’s more B.” The A-line describes the detrimental moral effect of a man going to a professional prostitute; the B-line heightens this and describes the far worse effect – moral and mortal! – of a man committing adultery with another man’s wife. When a man goes to a prostitute, he lowers himself to become nothing more than a “meal ticket” to sustain the life of that woman; however, when a man commits adultery, he places his very life in jeopardy – the rage of the husband could very well kill him.

[6:27]  ¹⁰ tn The Qal imperfect (with the interrogative) here has a potential nuance – “Is it possible to do this?” The sentence is obviously a rhetorical question making an affirmation that it is not possible.

[6:27]  ¹¹ sn “Fire” provides the analogy for the sage’s warning: Fire represents the sinful woman (hypocatastasis) drawn close, and the burning of the clothes the inevitable consequences of the liaison. See J. L. Crenshaw, “Impossible Questions, Sayings, and Tasks,” Semeia 17 (1980): 19-34. The word “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) plays on the words “man” (אִישׁ,’ish) and “woman” (אִשָּׁה, ’ishah); a passage like this probably inspired R. Gamaliel’s little explanation that what binds a man and a woman together in a holy marriage is י (yod) and ה (he), the two main letters of the holy name Yah. But if the Lord is removed from the relationship, that is, if these two letters are removed, all that is left is the אֵשׁ – the fire of passion. Since Gamaliel was the teacher of Paul, this may have influenced Paul’s advice that it was better to marry than to burn (1 Cor 7:9).

[6:27]  ¹² tn Heb “snatch up fire into his bosom.”

[6:27]  ¹³ tn The second colon begins with the vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun, indicating a disjunctive clause; here it is a circumstantial clause.

[6:28]  ¹⁴ tn The particle indicates that this is another rhetorical question like that in v. 27.

[6:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “thus is the one.”

[6:29]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “who goes in to” (so NAB, NASB). The Hebrew verb בּוֹא (bo’, “to go in; to enter”) is used throughout scripture as a euphemism for the act of sexual intercourse. Cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “who sleeps with”; NCV “have sexual relations with.”

[6:29]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “anyone who touches her will not.”

[6:29]  ¹⁸ sn The verb “touches” is intended here to be a euphemism for illegal sexual contact (e.g., Gen 20:6).

[6:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will be exempt from”; NASB, NLT “will not go unpunished.”

[6:29]  ²⁰ tn The verb is יִנָּקֶה (yinnaqeh), the Niphal imperfect from נָקָה (naqah, “to be empty; to be clean”). From it we get the adjectives “clean,” “free from guilt,” “innocent.” The Niphal has the meanings (1) “to be cleaned out” (of a plundered city; e.g., Isa 3:26), (2) “to be clean; to be free from guilt; to be innocent” (Ps 19:14), (3) “to be free; to be exempt from punishment” [here], and (4) “to be free; to be exempt from obligation” (Gen 24:8).

[6:30]  ²¹ tn Heb “they do not despise.”

[6:30]  ²² tn Heb “himself” or “his life.” Since the word נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally “soul”) refers to the whole person, body and soul, and since it has a basic idea of the bundle of appetites that make up a person, the use here for satisfying his hunger is appropriate.

[6:31]  ²³ tn The term “yet” is supplied in the translation.

[6:31]  ²⁴ tn Heb “is found out.” The perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive is equivalent to the imperfect nuances. Here it introduces either a conditional or a temporal clause before the imperfect.

[6:31]  ²⁵ tn The imperfect tense has an obligatory nuance. The verb in the Piel means “to repay; to make restitution; to recompense”; cf. NCV, TEV, CEV “must pay back.”

[6:31]  ²⁶ tn This final clause in the section is somewhat cryptic. The guilty thief must pay back sevenfold what he stole, even if it means he must use the substance of his whole house. The verb functions as an imperfect of possibility: “he might even give.”

[6:32]  ²⁷ tn Heb “heart.” The term “heart” is used as a metonymy of association for discernment, wisdom, good sense. Cf. NAB “is a fool”; NIV “lacks judgment”; NCV, NRSV “has no sense.”

[6:32]  ²⁸ tn Heb “soul.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) functions as a metonymy of association for “life” (BDB 659 s.v. 3.c).

[6:33]  ²⁹ tn Heb “He will receive a wound and contempt.”

[6:33]  ³⁰ sn Even though the text has said that the man caught in adultery ruins his life, it does not mean that he was put to death, although that could have happened. He seems to live on in ignominy, destroyed socially and spiritually. He might receive blows and wounds from the husband and shame and disgrace from the spiritual community. D. Kidner observes that in a morally healthy society the adulterer would be a social outcast (Proverbs [TOTC], 75).

[6:34]  ³¹ tn The word “kindles” was supplied in the translation; both “rage” and “jealousy” have meanings connected to heat.

[6:34]  ³² tn Heb “a man’s.”

[6:34]  ³³ tn The verb חָמַל (khamal) means “to show mercy; to show compassion; to show pity,” usually with the outcome of sparing or delivering someone. The idea here is that the husband will not spare the guilty man any of the punishment (cf. NRSV “he shows no restraint”).

[6:35]  ³⁴ tn Heb “lift up the face of,” meaning “regard.”

[6:35]  ³⁵ tn The word rendered “compensation” is כֹּפֶר (cofer); it is essentially a ransom price, a sum to be paid to deliver another from debt, bondage, or crime. The husband cannot accept payment as a ransom for a life, since what has happened cannot be undone so easily.

[6:35]  ³⁶ tn BDB 1005 s.v. שֹׁחַד suggests that this term means “hush money” or “bribe” (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT). C. H. Toy takes it as legal compensation (Proverbs [ICC], 142).