Text And Translation From The Hebrew (BHS)

Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words, and store up my commandments with you.
Proverbs 7:2 Keep my commandments and live, and my instruction as the pupil of your eyes.
Proverbs 7:3 Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Proverbs 7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding “kinswoman,”
Proverbs 7:5 to keep you from a foreign woman, from a stranger who smooths her words.

Proverbs 7:6 For at the window of my house, through my lattice I looked,
Proverbs 7:7 and I saw among the simple; I discerned among the sons: a young man lacking heart,
Proverbs 7:8 passing through the street near her corner; and he steps in the way to her house,
Proverbs 7:9 in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the pupil of night and darkness.

Proverbs 7:10 And behold, a woman to meet him—garb of a harlot, guarded of heart.
Proverbs 7:11 Boisterous, she, and stubborn; in her house her feet do not dwell.
Proverbs 7:12 Now outside, now in the broad places, and beside every corner she lies in wait.
Proverbs 7:13 And she seized him and kissed him; she hardened her face and said to him:

Proverbs 7:14 “Sacrifices of peace offerings are upon me; today I have paid my vows.
Proverbs 7:15 Therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your face earnestly, and I have found you.
Proverbs 7:16 I have spread coverings on my couch—striped cloths, linen of Egypt.
Proverbs 7:17 I have sprinkled my bed—myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Proverbs 7:18 Come, let us drink our fill of loves until the morning; let us delight ourselves in love.
Proverbs 7:19 For the man is not in his house; he has gone on a way from far off.
Proverbs 7:20 A bag of silver he took in his hand; at the day of the full moon he will come to his house.”

Proverbs 7:21 She turns him aside with the abundance of her persuasion; with the smoothness of her lips she drives him.
Proverbs 7:22 He goes after her suddenly, as an ox goes to the slaughter, and as a fetter to the discipline of a fool,
Proverbs 7:23 until an arrow splits his liver; as a bird hastens to a snare, and he does not know that it is for his life.

Proverbs 7:24 And now, sons, listen to me, and attend to the sayings of my mouth.
Proverbs 7:25 Let your heart not turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths.
Proverbs 7:26 For many are the slain whom she has caused to fall, and numerous are all her killed ones.
Proverbs 7:27 The ways of Sheol are her house, going down to chambers of death.

Canonical And Literary Setting

Proverbs 7:1–27 stands within the extended fatherly discourses of Proverbs 1–9, where wisdom is not merely information but a moral orientation of the whole person under the fear of Jehovah. The chapter belongs to a sequence (especially Proverbs 5:1–23; Proverbs 6:20–35; Proverbs 7:1–27) that warns a son against adultery and sexual folly. Yet Proverbs 7:1–27 is not a mere prohibition; it is a carefully constructed moral case built from command, observation, seduction speech, and concluding verdict. The father’s instruction functions as an inner guardrail: if it is treasured and internalized, it shapes perception, restrains desire, and strengthens resistance at the very moment temptation speaks.

Within the historical-grammatical sense, “wisdom” and “understanding” in Proverbs 7:4 are not mystical entities or allegorical figures detached from daily obedience. They are Jehovah-honoring moral skill rooted in teachability and fear of God, opposed here to the flattering speech and hidden death-path of the adulteress. Proverbs 7:1–27 shows that temptation is not defeated first by raw willpower but by prior formation of the heart through stored-up instruction.

Structure And Flow Of Thought

The chapter moves in a deliberate progression. Proverbs 7:1–5 presents the preventative: the son must keep, store, bind, and write the father’s instruction so it becomes intimate and ready. Proverbs 7:6–9 presents the scene: the father observes a youth moving toward the danger zone at the most dangerous time. Proverbs 7:10–20 presents the assault: the adulteress meets him with calculated speech, mixing sensuality with religious language and the promise of secrecy. Proverbs 7:21–23 presents the collapse and its true meaning: the youth’s “sudden” compliance is actually a movement toward death, like an animal to slaughter. Proverbs 7:24–27 presents the urgent call and final verdict: do not let the heart turn; her house leads down to Sheol.

This is wisdom instruction that aims to make the reader see. It trains moral perception by painting temptation vividly and then interpreting it accurately.

Exegetical Commentary On Proverbs 7:1–5

Proverbs 7:1 begins with “My son,” the relational frame that runs through these discourses. The imperatives “keep” and “store up” are not synonymous repetition; they describe complementary actions. “Keep” (שָׁמַר) emphasizes guarding, watchful obedience, and continuing custody. “Store up” (צָפַן) emphasizes treasuring something as valuable and making it available for future use. In Proverbs 7:1, the phrase “with you” presses the point that instruction must travel with the son into real-life situations, not remain on a shelf or in memory only as religious vocabulary.

Proverbs 7:2 intensifies the call by joining obedience to life: “Keep my commandments and live.” The verb is straightforward, and the clause functions as both promise and warning. The father is not teaching salvation by human merit; he is stating a covenant-shaped wisdom reality: God built the world so that His moral order yields life, while rebellion yields ruin. The second line, “and my instruction as the pupil of your eyes,” adds a vivid image. The “pupil” is delicate and instinctively protected. The father is saying that instruction must become something the son reflexively guards. A man does not debate whether to protect his eye; he reacts. So the son must cultivate reflexive protection of instruction.

Proverbs 7:3 uses bodily and inward imagery: “Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” The fingers suggest daily action, habitual practice, and constant visibility. The “tablet of your heart” is the inner control center: desires, decisions, and moral reasoning. The grammar presents instruction not as external constraint but as internal inscription. The father’s goal is not compliance that collapses under pressure, but inward formation that stands when the lips of temptation begin to speak.

Proverbs 7:4 moves from guarding instruction to embracing wisdom relationally: “Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call understanding ‘kinswoman.’” The kinship terms are not romantic; they are covenantal and familial. The point is intimacy, loyalty, and protected closeness. A sister is not a casual acquaintance; she is family, to be honored and kept near. The son is commanded to treat wisdom with the affection and allegiance he would owe to his own household. The parallel term for “understanding” as “kinswoman” reinforces that wisdom is not merely an idea but a relational commitment of the will.

Proverbs 7:5 gives the purpose clause: “to keep you from a foreign woman, from a stranger who smooths her words.” The “foreign woman” and “stranger” language in Proverbs often functions morally and covenantally rather than ethnically. The emphasis here is that she is outside the covenant boundaries of faithful sexuality and outside the moral order that Jehovah blesses. Her weapon is speech: she “smooths” her words, making them flattering, plausible, and soothing to conscience. The father prepares the son not primarily by describing the woman’s body, but by exposing her rhetoric. Temptation often comes with an argument.

Exegetical Commentary On Proverbs 7:6–9

Proverbs 7:6 shifts to a first-person observation: “at the window of my house…through my lattice I looked.” The father is not presenting hearsay; he is recounting a witnessed moral tragedy. The “lattice” suggests partial concealment: he sees clearly enough to interpret, while the youth does not see clearly enough to escape.

Proverbs 7:7 describes the target: “I saw among the simple…a young man lacking heart.” “Simple” here is not innocent virtue; it is naïveté, moral openness without discernment. “Lacking heart” does not mean lacking emotion; in Hebrew usage, “heart” is the seat of understanding, volition, and moral judgment. The youth is deficient in inner capacity to evaluate and resist. This deficiency becomes visible not merely in what he feels, but in where he walks.

Proverbs 7:8 shows deliberate proximity: “passing…near her corner…he steps in the way to her house.” The verbs portray movement into the sphere of temptation. Wisdom recognizes that sin often begins before the overt act, when a man chooses the path that brings him within reach. The phrase “near her corner” suggests a known location, a familiar trap, a habitual hunting place.

Proverbs 7:9 piles up time markers: “in the twilight…in the evening…in the pupil of night and darkness.” The language emphasizes concealment and diminished perception. Darkness is not merely atmospheric; it becomes moral cover. The father shows that foolishness loves conditions where accountability is reduced and impulse is amplified.

Exegetical Commentary On Proverbs 7:10–13

Proverbs 7:10 introduces the woman: she is “to meet him,” meaning she is not accidentally encountered; she is positioned and purposeful. Her “garb of a harlot” indicates intentional signaling, a public advertisement of private sin. The phrase “guarded of heart” is striking: she is not naïve; she is calculating. The same organ the youth lacks (“heart”) she uses skillfully, but for deceit rather than discernment. She is guarded, not in purity, but in strategy.

Proverbs 7:11 describes her temperament: “boisterous…stubborn.” She is loud, restless, resistant to restraint. “In her house her feet do not dwell” portrays a roaming predatory pattern. Proverbs 7:12 intensifies it: “Now outside…now in the broad places…beside every corner she lies in wait.” The verbs depict habitual ambush. This is not romance; it is hunt.

Proverbs 7:13 shows escalation: “she seized him and kissed him.” The order matters. Physical aggression precedes persuasion. Then “she hardened her face” describes shamelessness, the settled refusal to blush. Shame is a moral gift that restrains; she has pushed past it. The father wants the son to recognize that shameless boldness is not strength; it is moral decay.

Exegetical Commentary On Proverbs 7:14–20

Proverbs 7:14 is one of the chapter’s most revealing lines: “Sacrifices of peace offerings are upon me; today I have paid my vows.” She cloaks immorality with religious vocabulary. Peace offerings were associated with communal eating and celebratory fellowship, and vows were public commitments made in the context of worship. Her claim functions rhetorically: it paints her as spiritually safe, socially respectable, and perhaps even generous. The point is not that worship is corrupt, but that corrupt hearts can misuse worship language to quiet suspicion and silence conscience. The seduction is not only sensual; it is moral misdirection.

Proverbs 7:15 continues: “Therefore I have come out to meet you… and I have found you.” She frames the encounter as destiny and special selection. The verb “to seek” with “your face” expresses eagerness and personal focus. She aims at the youth’s pride: he is not one of many; he is the chosen one. Flattery is a powerful intoxicant to an unformed heart.

Proverbs 7:16–17 move to sensory enticement. She describes her couch with “coverings,” “striped cloths,” and “linen of Egypt,” evoking luxury and exotic refinement. Then she says, “I have sprinkled my bed—myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.” The perfumes are named to awaken desire through imagination. The language also implies careful preparation: this is not spontaneous affection; it is staged temptation. The detail teaches that lust thrives on cultivated fantasy, and fantasy is often fed by environment, scent, and suggestion.

Proverbs 7:18 delivers the invitation: “Come, let us drink our fill of loves until the morning; let us delight ourselves in love.” The plural “loves” and the verbal forms present an indulgent, unrestrained plan. She promises duration (“until the morning”) and satisfaction (“drink our fill”). In wisdom perspective, this is counterfeit “love,” because it divorces pleasure from covenant faithfulness and turns persons into consumable experiences.

Proverbs 7:19–20 then supply the crucial reassurance: secrecy. “For the man is not in his house…he has gone…from far off.” The “man” is likely her husband. She adds, “A bag of silver he took…at the day of the full moon he will come.” The expression about the “full moon” plausibly marks a set time, suggesting a delayed return. Her point is calculated safety: there will be no consequences. This is a central lie of temptation: it portrays sin as both pleasurable and consequence-free, as though Jehovah does not see and reality does not bite.

Exegetical Commentary On Proverbs 7:21–23

Proverbs 7:21 interprets the seduction as verbal conquest: “She turns him aside with the abundance of her persuasion; with the smoothness of her lips she drives him.” The verbs are forceful. She “turns aside” his direction and “drives” him, as though her speech becomes a whip. The youth is not depicted as heroically wrestling and then tragically falling; he is depicted as pliable, easily redirected by abundance of persuasive speech. This is what happens when instruction is not stored up “with you” as Proverbs 7:1 required.

Proverbs 7:22–23 deliver the father’s decisive interpretation through similes. “He goes after her suddenly, as an ox goes to the slaughter.” The ox is not thinking about death; it is moving toward what seems like routine handling, unaware of the knife. The next phrase is textually and semantically difficult, but the sense is clear: the youth is like an animal constrained into correction or punishment, “a fetter to the discipline of a fool,” moving toward chastisement he cannot yet imagine. Then Proverbs 7:23 states the end with grim clarity: “until an arrow splits his liver.” The “liver” in ancient imagery relates to life and inner vitality; the picture is lethal injury. The final simile seals it: “as a bird hastens to a snare, and he does not know that it is for his life.” The youth thinks he is moving toward pleasure; wisdom declares he is moving toward the forfeiture of life.

This is not exaggeration for effect. Sexual sin can destroy covenant marriage, reputation, community standing, economic stability, and spiritual vitality. It can also invite violence, disease, and death. Most importantly, it places a man in open rebellion against Jehovah’s moral order. The father’s imagery teaches that the greatest danger of temptation is misperception: thinking the snare is a feast.

Exegetical Commentary On Proverbs 7:24–27

Proverbs 7:24 returns to direct address: “And now, sons, listen to me.” The plural “sons” broadens the application beyond one youth; the instruction is for all who will learn. The father insists on attention to “the sayings of my mouth.” Wisdom is communicated through words and must be received through listening. Many falls into sin begin with refusing to listen.

Proverbs 7:25 targets the inner pivot: “Let your heart not turn aside…do not stray.” The father does not merely say, “Do not commit adultery.” He says, do not let your heart bend toward her ways. The “heart” is where the battle is lost before the body moves. The verbs portray deviation from a path: turning aside, straying, wandering. The language assumes a right way already known. The command is not to explore the edge, not to sample the path, not to test the strength of desire, but to refuse the first inward drift.

Proverbs 7:26 grounds the warning in reality: “For many are the slain whom she has caused to fall…numerous are all her killed ones.” The father refuses the youth’s most common self-deception: “I will be different.” Wisdom says: you are not unique in your vulnerability. The victims are many, and they include “numerous” strong ones. The text does not deny moral responsibility; it denies arrogant confidence.

Proverbs 7:27 gives the final verdict: “The ways of Sheol are her house, going down to chambers of death.” “Sheol” here is the realm of the dead, the grave, the destination of life extinguished. The plural “ways” suggests many entry points: many stories, many rationalizations, many routes of compromise that all lead down. “Chambers of death” intensifies the picture of descent and confinement. In wisdom perspective, adultery is not merely a private pleasure; it is participation in a path whose end is death.

Theological And Moral Synthesis

Proverbs 7:1–27 teaches that moral survival depends on prior internalization of truth. The repeated imperatives in Proverbs 7:1–3 assume that the decisive battle is fought long before the decisive moment. A man who only tries to resist when temptation seizes him has already placed himself at a severe disadvantage. Proverbs 7:8–9 shows that foolishness chooses environments and times that amplify vulnerability. Proverbs 7:14–20 shows that temptation is not always crude; it can wear religious language, refined luxury, and promises of safety. Proverbs 7:21–23 shows that the subjective experience of sin as “sudden” excitement is objectively the movement of a creature into a trap. Proverbs 7:25 insists that the heart’s direction is the central issue, because the heart governs the path.

The chapter also teaches that speech is a moral instrument. The father’s words are meant to preserve life; the adulteress’s words are meant to destroy it. Words are never neutral. They either bind instruction to the heart or smooth a path to Sheol. Therefore, a man must choose what voices he will store up “with” him, because those voices will speak inside him when an external voice tries to dominate him.

Proverbs 7:1–27 does not present women as inherently deceptive or men as inherently helpless. It presents a particular immoral woman acting with predatory intent and a particular foolish man acting with naïve self-exposure. Scripture elsewhere condemns male adulterers with equal clarity and holds men fully accountable for covenant faithfulness. The lesson here is not blame-shifting; it is vigilance, discernment, and obedience to the moral order Jehovah has established for human good.

Pastoral Application Within The Historical-Grammatical Sense

Proverbs 7:1–27 calls for a kind of holiness that is intelligent, not merely reactive. The father does not say, “Try harder in the moment,” but “Store up instruction,” “Bind it,” “Write it,” and “Call wisdom family.” This means that private disciplines shape public outcomes. A man must decide ahead of time which paths he will not walk, which corners he will not “pass near,” which hours he will not treat as spiritually neutral, and which flattering words he will refuse to entertain.

Proverbs 7:25 places the emphasis where modern men often avoid it: the heart. Many attempt to manage sexual sin only at the behavioral level while allowing the imagination to feast. Yet Proverbs 7:16–18 shows that seduction often begins with imagery, scent, and fantasy long before a body crosses a threshold. Therefore, guarding the heart includes guarding what the mind rehearses. The chapter’s realism is a mercy: it exposes the mechanics of downfall so the teachable can interrupt them early.

Finally, Proverbs 7:27 insists on truth-telling about outcomes. Sin always promises life and delivers death. Wisdom always appears demanding and delivers life. The fear of Jehovah does not shrink life; it preserves it. In this way, Proverbs 7:1–27 urges the reader to see beyond the immediate sweetness of “smooth words” to the end of the path, and to treat that end as real.

Conclusion

Proverbs 7:1–27 is a father’s urgent life-saving instruction framed as command, witnessed warning, and interpreted tragedy. It teaches that fidelity is guarded by internalized instruction, that temptation is often a planned hunt masked as affection, and that the final destination of sexual folly is death. The chapter calls the son to bind wisdom close, to keep instruction as the pupil of the eye, and to refuse the first inward turn toward a path that descends to Sheol. In doing so, it offers not merely a prohibition but a way of life: discernment rooted in treasured truth, lived under the moral order of Jehovah.

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