Proverbs 6: Four ways to hurt yourself | Bible study

Proverbs 6:1

My child, maybe you have promised to pay back money that someone else borrowed. Maybe you even shook hands on it.

My son, if you have put yourself up as security for your neighbor,

The situation: someone has borrowed, and you have promised the lender that you will pay if the borrower does not. You now carry a debt you do not control.

if you have struck hands for an outsider,

The second line restates the first and adds the gesture that sealed it. Whether the borrower is a friend or someone you barely know, the handshake has bound you.

ערב · arav · pledge, stand surety

To give yourself as the guarantee for another person's obligation. Proverbs warns against it repeatedly (11:15, 17:18, 22:26).

רע · rea · fellow, companion

Not only the person next door but any fellow member of the community, a friend or associate.

תקע כף · taqa kaph · strike the palm

Literally to strike or clap the palm. The slap of hands closed the deal in front of witnesses.

זר · zar · outsider

Someone outside your family or circle. The feminine form of this word names the woman of chapter 7.

There were no banks. A lender protected himself by having a third person promise to pay if the borrower failed. The guarantor could lose his goods, even his bed (22:27), for a debt he never enjoyed.

Proverbs 6:2

If so, your own words have caught you like a trap.

if you have been snared by what your mouth said,

The trap was not set by an enemy. It was made by your own promise, which is why it is easy to walk into and hard to see.

captured by what your mouth said,

The same phrase is repeated word for word in Hebrew. The repetition presses the point: a few spoken words are all it took to lose your freedom.

יקש · yaqash · snare, trap

To catch with a bird trap. The noun from this root is the fowler of verse 5.

לכד · lakad · capture, seize

To take captive, used of capturing cities and prisoners as well as animals.

אמר · emer · saying, speech

What is said aloud. The phrase 'sayings of your mouth' stands in both lines.

פה · peh · mouth

The mouth as the source of a binding promise. A spoken pledge was a contract.

Proverbs 6:3

Here is how to get free. That person now has power over you, so go to them, forget your pride, and keep begging until they let you go.

then do this, my son, and get yourself free,

The father gives an order, not a reflection. The situation is an emergency and needs action.

because you have come into your neighbor's grip:

This is the reason for the urgency. Your future now depends on whether another person pays his debts, so he holds you in his palm.

go, lower yourself, and pester your neighbor.

The way out costs pride. You go and beg, and you keep pressing until you are released from the pledge. Embarrassment is cheaper than ruin.

נצל · natsal · be rescued, escape

To be snatched away from danger. The same command returns in verse 5.

כף · kaph · palm, grip

The same word as the palm struck in verse 1. You struck a palm and ended up inside one.

רע · rea · fellow, companion

Named twice in this verse. The person you meant to help is now the person who has power over you.

רפס · raphas · trample, stamp down

The form means to trample yourself, to let yourself be stepped on. It is a strong picture of giving up your dignity.

רהב · rahav · press, storm at

To act boldly and insistently toward someone, to give him no rest.

Proverbs 6:4

Do it today. Don't go to bed first, and don't even stop for a nap.

Do not allow your eyes any sleep

Do it before you go to bed tonight. A debt pledge only gets more dangerous with time.

or your eyelids any dozing.

Not even a nap. The second line takes the first a step further, from a night's sleep down to closing your eyes for a moment.

שנה · shenah · sleep

Ordinary sleep. Here refusing it is wise; in verses 9 and 10 loving it is the sluggard's ruin.

תנומה · tenumah · dozing, drowsiness

Lighter than sleep: nodding off. The same pair of words returns in verse 10.

עפעפים · aph'appayim · eyelids

A poetic partner word for eyes. It comes back in verse 25 as the weapon of the adulteress.

Proverbs 6:5

Get away as fast as a deer running from a hunter, or a bird wriggling out of a trapper's hand.

Tear yourself free like a gazelle out of a hand,

A gazelle that is caught does not negotiate. It fights and bolts with everything it has. That is the energy the father wants.

like a bird out of the trapper's hand.

The second picture matches the first. A bird in a trapper's grip has one moment to escape before it is over, and so do you.

נצל · natsal · be rescued, escape

Repeated from verse 3. The section begins and ends its instructions with this verb.

צבי · tsevi · gazelle

The standard picture of speed in the Old Testament (2 Samuel 2:18).

צפור · tsippor · small bird

A small bird such as a sparrow, the kind caught in nets and snares.

יקוש · yaqosh · bird trapper

From the same root as ensnared in verse 2. You were snared by your words; now escape the snarer.

The Hebrew of the first line says only 'from a hand'. English versions add 'the hunter' to complete the sense, guided by the fowler in the second line.

Proverbs 6:6

Are you lazy? Then go and watch the ants. See how they live, and learn from them.

Go to the ant, you sluggard;

A person is sent to school to an insect. The insult is deliberate: one of the smallest creatures knows what the lazy person does not.

look at how she lives and become wise.

Wisdom here comes from watching closely. The ant's habits are a lesson anyone can read without a teacher.

נמלה · nemalah · ant

Mentioned in the Old Testament only here and in Proverbs 30:25, both times as a model of preparing ahead.

עצל · atsel · sluggard

The habitually idle person, a stock character in Proverbs. He is not resting from work; he is avoiding it.

דרך · derek · road, way of life

Her roads, meaning her habits. Ants literally keep to their trails, so the picture and the meaning match.

חכם · chakam · become wise

The verb behind chokmah. Wisdom in Proverbs is practical skill, and here it means learning to work ahead of need.

Proverbs 6:7

Ants have no boss. Nobody stands over them telling them what to do.

She has no commander,

This is the first thing to notice about the ant. Nobody stands over her giving orders.

no overseer and no ruler,

Three kinds of boss are listed and she has none of them. Her work comes from inside. The sluggard, by contrast, will not move even when pushed.

קצין · qatsin · commander, leader

A leader who makes decisions, used of military and civil chiefs.

שטר · shoter · overseer, foreman

The official who organises and drives a work force. The word is used of the Israelite foremen in Egypt (Exodus 5).

משל · moshel · one who governs

From the verb to rule. The one with authority to command and punish.

Proverbs 6:8

Still, they collect their food all summer, while there is plenty, and store it up for later.

yet she gets her bread ready in summer

She works when the food is available, not when she is hungry. Summer is the time to act because winter is coming.

and stores up her food at harvest.

The second line says the same thing with a second verb, gathering in. The point is timing: there is a season when provision can be laid up, and it does not last.

כון · kun · make ready, establish

To set firmly in place. She makes her supply secure before it is needed.

קיץ · qayits · summer, fruit season

The hot dry season when fruit ripens. The word also means the summer fruit itself.

אגר · agar · gather in, store

To collect and lay up. A rare verb, also used in Proverbs 10:5 of the son who gathers in summer.

קציר · qatsir · grain harvest

The reaping season. In Israel grain is cut in late spring and early summer, before the long dry months.

In Israel no rain falls from about May to October. Grain is reaped at the start of that stretch and fruit ripens through it, and whatever is not stored then cannot be found in winter.

Proverbs 6:9

Lazy one, how long are you going to lie there? When will you get out of bed?

How long, sluggard, will you keep lying there?

The father turns from the ant to the person in bed. How long means this has gone on for some time and patience is running out.

When will you get up from your sleep?

The second question presses the first. The sluggard never refuses to work; he just never names the time he will start.

עד מתי · ad matay · until when?

The same cry Wisdom uses to the naive in 1:22.

שכב · shakav · lie down

The ordinary verb for lying in bed. It ends verse 10 as well, where the hands are folded in order to lie down.

עצל · atsel · sluggard

Addressed by name a second time, as in verse 6.

קום · qum · get up, stand

To rise and stand. Often the first step of taking action in Hebrew narrative.

שנה · shenah · sleep

The word of verse 4. The man in debt must give his eyes none; this man cannot get enough.

Proverbs 6:10

You say, just a little more sleep, just a little nap, just a little rest with my hands folded.

A little more sleep, a little more dozing,

This is the sluggard's reply, or the way he talks to himself. He never asks for much, only a little, and that is how whole days are lost.

a little folding of the hands to lie back,

Folded hands are hands that are not working. Three times he says a little, and the three littles add up to everything.

מעט · me'at · a little, a bit

Said three times in the verse. Laziness works in small amounts that never look serious.

שנה · shenah · sleep

Plural in Hebrew here: little sleeps, one after another.

תנומה · tenumah · dozing, drowsiness

The same pair as verse 4, also plural here.

חבק · chibbuq · clasping, embracing

From the verb to embrace. The hands hug each other instead of holding a tool.

Proverbs 6:11

Then being poor will sneak up on you like a robber, and you will have nothing. You won't be able to fight it off.

and your poverty arrives like a prowler,

This is the result of verse 10. Poverty is pictured as a person on the road who turns up at your door uninvited while you sleep.

your want like a man with a shield.

The second picture is stronger. An armed man cannot be argued with or pushed out. By the time need arrives it is too late to resist it.

ריש · resh · poverty

Being without means. The noun is related to rash, the poor person, common in Proverbs.

מהלך · mehallek · one who roams

From halak, to walk: someone who walks about. A wanderer or highwayman who comes on you from the road.

מחסור · machsor · lack, want

From a root meaning to lack. The state of not having what you require.

איש מגן · ish magen · man of a shield

Literally a man of a shield, a soldier equipped for a fight you cannot win.

Verses 10 and 11 are repeated almost word for word in Proverbs 24:33-34, where they close a story about a sluggard's overgrown field.

Proverbs 6:12

Now look at the troublemaker. This bad person goes around saying things that are twisted and untrue.

A good-for-nothing, a man of wickedness,

A new portrait begins with two labels. This is a person who brings no benefit and causes harm.

goes around with a crooked mouth.

The first mark of him is his speech. What he says is bent: it does not line up with the truth or with what he intends.

אדם בליעל · adam beliya'al · man of worthlessness

Beliya'al is usually explained as 'without profit'. It labels the worst kind of troublemaker in the Old Testament, as in Judges 19:22 and 1 Samuel 2:12.

איש און · ish aven · man of harm

Aven is wickedness that brings trouble and comes to nothing. It returns in verse 18 as what the heart plans.

עקשות · iqqeshut · crookedness

From a root meaning twisted. The opposite of straight speech.

פה · peh · mouth

Speech as a whole. The portrait runs through mouth, eyes, feet, fingers and heart, and the list of seven does the same.

Proverbs 6:13

He winks, taps his foot and points his finger, sending secret signals to trick people.

He winks his eyes, he signals with his feet,

He communicates in secret signs. Something is being said to an accomplice that the victim standing there is not meant to catch.

he gives directions with his fingers,

His whole body is used for deceit. Nothing he does can be taken at face value, because the real message is always the hidden one.

קרץ · qarats · pinch, narrow

To pinch or squeeze together. Winking the eye is a sign of malice in Proverbs 10:10 and Psalm 35:19.

עין · ayin · eye

The eye shows what a person intends. Here it is used to pass a concealed message.

ירה · yarah · point, direct

The verb behind torah, teaching. His fingers give instruction too, but it is instruction in mischief.

אצבע · etsba · finger

The finger as a pointer. In 7:3 the same fingers are to have the father's commands bound on them.

Proverbs 6:14

His heart is all twisted. He is always planning something bad, and he gets people fighting wherever he goes.

With twisted things in his heart he is plotting evil all the time;

The gestures of verse 13 come from here. His inner life is turned upside down, and planning harm is his constant occupation, not an occasional lapse.

he lets quarrels loose.

This is what all the plotting produces. Wherever he goes people end up fighting each other, and that is his aim.

תהפכות · tahpukot · things turned upside down

From haphak, to overturn. Values and facts flipped over so that wrong looks right.

לב · lev · heart, mind

The seat of thinking and deciding, not only of feeling. What is in the lev decides everything else.

חרש · charash · plow, engrave, plan

The verb for plowing a field and engraving metal. He works evil over carefully, like a craftsman.

שלח · shalach · send out, let loose

To send away or set free. Quarrels are released like animals out of a pen.

מדון · madon · quarrel, dispute

From din, to judge or contend. Disputes that set people against each other.

Proverbs 6:15

So trouble will hit him all of a sudden. In one moment he will be broken, and nobody will be able to fix him.

That is why his ruin will come all at once;

The sentence is passed. He spent his time on slow, careful plots, and his own end comes with no time to plan at all.

in a moment he will be shattered, with no cure.

The second line adds that it is final. He is broken like a clay jar, which cannot be mended. The man who broke relationships is himself broken.

איד · eyd · calamity

Ruin that overtakes a person. The same word Wisdom uses in 1:26.

פתאם · pit'om · all at once

Without warning. The same word describes the young man's decision in 7:22.

שבר · shavar · break, shatter

To smash in pieces, used of pottery, bones and ships.

מרפא · marpe · cure, remedy

From rapha, to heal. The line is repeated in 29:1 about the person who keeps refusing correction.

Proverbs 6:16

There are six things God hates. No, seven things that He cannot stand.

Six things the LORD hates,

The list is introduced with a number. What follows is not human opinion about bad manners but what God Himself is against.

and seven are disgusting to His very self:

Raising the number by one is a Hebrew way of saying the list is building to its last item. The seventh is where the weight falls.

יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name

The personal name of Israel's God. The troublemaker of verses 12 to 15 is now measured against Him.

שנא · sane · hate

Settled opposition, not a passing mood. God is said to reject these things.

תועבה · to'evah · something loathsome

What provokes disgust. The Hebrew says they are an abomination of His nephesh, His inmost self, which English shortens to 'Him'.

The pattern 'six, even seven' is a numerical saying, a form also found in Proverbs 30 and in Amos 1 and 2. It helped the list stick in memory and marked the final item as the climax.

Proverbs 6:17

Eyes that look down on other people, a tongue that tells lies, and hands that kill people who did nothing wrong.

eyes held high, a tongue that lies,

The list starts at the top of the body. Raised eyes are the look of someone who sees everyone else as beneath him. Next comes the tongue that says what is false.

and hands that spill innocent blood,

From attitude and speech the list moves to action. Killing someone who has done nothing wrong is the furthest the hands can go.

עינים רמות · einayim ramot · raised eyes

From rum, to be high. Pride is described by how it looks on the face: eyes lifted above others.

שקר · sheqer · falsehood

What is false and so cannot be relied on. The same word marks the false witness in verse 19.

לשון · lashon · tongue

The tongue as the tool of speech. It returns in verse 24 as the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

שפך · shaphak · pour out

To pour out like water. Blood poured out is life thrown away.

נקי · naqi · clean, guiltless

A person who has done nothing to deserve it, the victim the gang looked for in 1:11.

Proverbs 6:18

A heart that makes bad plans, and feet that hurry off to do wrong.

a heart that works out harmful plans,

The list reaches the centre of the body. This is the same phrase used of the troublemaker in verse 14: the mind used as a workshop for wrong.

feet quick to run toward evil,

Then it goes down to the feet. The plan is carried out without hesitation. There is no reluctance left to slow the person down.

לב · lev · heart, mind

It sits in the middle of the list of seven, as the heart sits in the middle of the body.

חרש · charash · plow, engrave, plan

The verb of verse 14. The list picks up the vocabulary of the portrait that came before it.

מחשבות און · machshevot aven · plans of harm

Machashavah is a thought or design; aven is the wickedness of verse 12.

מהר · mahar · hasten

To hurry. The line echoes 1:16, where the gang's feet run to evil.

רעה · ra'ah · evil, harm

The broad word for what is bad and does damage.

Proverbs 6:19

A person who tells lies about others to get them into trouble, and a person who starts fights in a family.

a lying witness who breathes out falsehoods,

The sixth item is a kind of person, not a body part. In court a witness's word could cost someone property or life, so a liar there turns justice into a weapon.

and one who lets quarrels loose between brothers.

The seventh and climactic item. Breaking up a family or a close community is set at the head of what God detests. It is also the exact charge against the man in verse 14.

עד שקר · ed sheqer · witness of falsehood

The phrase used in the ninth commandment (Exodus 20:16).

פוח · puach · breathe out

To blow or exhale. Lies come out of him as naturally as breath.

כזב · kazav · a lie

A falsehood, something that deceives and lets you down.

שלח · shalach · send out, let loose

The same verb as verse 14.

מדון · madon · quarrel, dispute

The same noun as verse 14. Both units end on it.

אח · ach · brother, kinsman

Blood brothers, and more widely relatives and fellow Israelites. The people who ought to be most united.

Israelite courts had no forensic evidence. A case stood or fell on what witnesses said, which is why the law required two or three and punished a false witness with the penalty he tried to bring on the accused (Deuteronomy 19:15-19).

Proverbs 6:20

My child, do what your dad tells you, and don't let go of what your mum teaches you.

My son, guard your father's command,

A new lesson begins the way 1:8 did. The son is told to keep watch over what his father told him, as over something valuable.

and do not let go of your mother's teaching.

Both parents are named and carry equal authority. Letting go implies he already has it; the risk is dropping it when it becomes inconvenient.

נצר · natsar · guard, watch over

To keep watch, as a watchman guards a vineyard. The Hebrew is about protecting the command, not only obeying it.

מצוה · mitsvah · command

A direct order from someone with the right to give it.

נטש · natash · abandon, let go

To forsake something you once held. The same verb as 1:8.

תורה · torah · direction, instruction

From a root meaning to point the way. The mother's instruction is called her torah.

Proverbs 6:21

Keep their words in your heart always. Wear them like a necklace you never take off.

Tie them onto your heart for good;

The teaching is to be fastened to the place where decisions are made, and left there permanently, not taken out when needed.

fasten them around your neck.

The picture shifts to something worn where everyone can see it, like a necklace. Held inside and shown outside: the teaching should mark both.

קשר · qashar · tie on

To tie firmly. The verb used in Deuteronomy 6:8 for binding God's words on the hand.

תמיד · tamid · always, without a break

Constantly. The word used for the lamp in the sanctuary that was never allowed to go out.

לב · lev · heart, mind

The troublemaker's heart held twisted things (verse 14). The son's heart is to hold his parents' words.

ענד · anad · fasten on

A rare verb for tying something on as an ornament; it occurs only here and in Job 31:36.

גרגרות · gargerot · throat, neck

A word found only in Proverbs, always as the place where teaching is worn like jewellery (1:9, 3:3, 3:22).

Proverbs 6:22

When you walk, their words will show you the way. They will keep you safe while you sleep. In the morning, they will be there to talk to you.

When you are out walking, it will lead you;

During the active part of the day, the teaching gives direction. You will know which way to go because you carry it with you.

when you lie down, it will keep guard over you;

At night, when you are not watching, it watches. What you have already taken in protects you when you are off guard.

and when you wake up, it will speak with you.

First thing in the morning it is there with something to say. The three lines cover the whole day, so there is no time when the teaching is silent.

נחה · nachah · lead

To lead along a route, the verb used of God leading Israel by the pillar of cloud (Exodus 13:21).

שמר · shamar · guard, keep

To stand guard. The son guards the teaching in verse 20, and here the teaching guards him.

שיח · siach · muse, converse

To go over something in thought or speech. The teaching becomes a companion that talks things through with you.

The Hebrew verbs are singular: 'she will lead you'. English versions say 'they' to match verse 21. The singular treats the parents' instruction as one thing, almost as a person. The three moments echo Deuteronomy 6:7.

Proverbs 6:23

Their rules are like a lamp and their teaching is like a light. Being told when you are wrong is the path to a good life.

For the command is a lamp and the teaching is a light,

This explains verse 22. Instruction lets you see where you are putting your feet. Without it you walk in the dark and find the hazards by falling into them.

and corrections that discipline are the road to life.

The second line names the unwelcome part. Being told you are wrong is not an obstacle on the road to life. It is the road.

נר · ner · oil lamp

A small clay lamp held in the hand, giving enough light for the next few steps.

אור · or · light

Light in general, daylight. Psalm 119:105 uses the same pair, lamp and light, for God's word.

תורה · torah · direction, instruction

The mother's torah of verse 20, now called light.

תוכחת · tokachat · correction

Correction that shows you were wrong. Plural here: it happens many times.

מוסר · musar · discipline, correction

Training that shapes by correcting. The two great correction words of chapter 1 are joined in one phrase.

דרך חיים · derek chayyim · road of life

The road that leads to life and is itself living well. Its opposite is the road to Sheol in 7:27.

Proverbs 6:24

This teaching protects you from someone who uses sweet, tricky words to draw you into an unfaithful relationship.

to guard you from the woman of evil,

Here is the specific danger the lamp is for. The general praise of teaching narrows to one situation: a woman who offers what is not hers to give.

from the smooth tongue of the outsider woman.

Her weapon is named. It is her speech, which slides past a man's defences. The teaching protects by making him able to recognise it.

שמר · shamar · guard, keep

The verb of verse 22. The guarding promised there is now given its target.

אשת רע · eshet ra · woman of evil

Literally woman of evil. Verse 29 makes clear she is another man's wife.

חלקה · chelqah · smoothness, flattery

From chalaq, to be smooth or slippery. Flattery is speech with no friction, nothing to make you stop.

לשון · lashon · tongue

A lying tongue was second in the list of seven (verse 17). Here is a particular case of it.

נכריה · nokriyah · outsider woman

A woman who is foreign to you: not necessarily from another nation, but outside the bounds of your own marriage.

The consonants of 'evil' (ra) are the same as those of 'neighbor' (rea), and the old Greek translation has 'married woman' here. Either way verse 29 shows who is meant: a neighbor's wife.

Proverbs 6:25

Don't let your heart want her because she is pretty. Don't let her catch you with her eyes.

Do not crave her beauty in your heart,

The command goes to the first stage. Adultery begins as a wanting that is allowed to stay in the mind, long before anything is done.

and do not let her take you with her eyelids.

Her glance is pictured as a way of seizing a prisoner. The second line shows the other side: his inner craving is what makes her look effective.

חמד · chamad · covet, crave

The verb of the tenth commandment, which forbids coveting a neighbor's wife (Exodus 20:17).

יפי · yophi · beauty

Physical beauty. It is not called bad; the wrong is in craving what belongs to someone else.

לב · lev · heart, mind

The place where verse 21 said the teaching should be tied. Either the teaching fills it or the craving does.

לקח · laqach · take, seize

The ordinary verb to take. She takes him as a captive is taken.

עפעפים · aph'appayim · eyelids

The word of verse 4. There the eyelids were to stay open for escape; here hers are the trap.

Proverbs 6:26

Some wrong things cost you a little, like the price of bread. But going after someone who is married to another person can cost you your whole life.

For the price of a prostitute comes to a loaf of bread,

The first half of a comparison of costs. However the terse Hebrew is read, the amount in view is small and can be counted.

but another man's wife hunts a priceless life.

The contrast: with a married woman what is at stake is not money but the man's life itself. He thinks he is pursuing her, and the verse says she is the hunter.

זונה · zonah · prostitute

A woman who sells sex. She is mentioned here for comparison, not approval.

ככר לחם · kikkar lechem · round of bread

Kikkar is a round, flat loaf, the most basic unit of food.

אשת איש · eshet ish · a man's wife

Literally the wife of a man. The Hebrew names her by the husband she belongs to, which is the whole problem.

צוד · tsud · hunt game

To stalk and catch prey. The escape language of verse 5 returns with a new hunter.

נפש יקרה · nephesh yeqarah · valuable life

Nephesh is the life or self; yaqar is rare and costly. What she takes cannot be replaced.

The first line is very compressed, literally 'for on behalf of a prostitute, as far as a loaf of bread'. Some read it as her fee, only a loaf, against the far higher cost of adultery. Others read it as the result: she brings a man down to his last loaf.

Proverbs 6:27

Can you hold fire in your lap without burning your clothes?

Can a man scoop fire into the fold of his robe

The first of two questions with an obvious answer. Nobody carries burning coals against his chest and expects to be unharmed.

without his clothes catching fire?

The result follows from the nature of fire, not from bad luck. The father is saying that the consequences of adultery are just as built in.

חתה · chatah · scoop up coals

The specific verb for raking or scooping live coals from a hearth (see Proverbs 25:22).

אש · esh · fire

In Hebrew fire (esh) sounds close to man (ish) and wife (eshet), which stand nearby in verses 26 to 29. The sound ties the picture to its meaning.

חיק · cheq · bosom, fold of the robe

The chest and the fold of the garment over it, where things were carried. It is also the word for an embrace, as in 5:20.

שרף · saraph · burn up

To consume by fire.

Proverbs 6:28

Can you walk on hot coals without burning your feet?

Or can a man walk over live coals

A second picture makes the same point from another angle. This time the contact is with the feet.

without his feet being seared?

Even brief contact burns. The two questions together shut off the hope that one could do this carefully or just once and get away with it.

גחלת · gachelet · glowing coal

A live, glowing coal as opposed to dead charcoal.

כוה · kavah · be burned, branded

To be seared so that a mark is left. The burn stays visible afterward.

Proverbs 6:29

It is the same when a man takes another man's wife as if she were his own. Nobody who does that gets away with it.

That is how it is with the man who goes in to his neighbor's wife;

The two pictures are now applied. She is the fire. The man who sleeps with her is the man with coals in his robe.

no one who touches her will be let off.

As with fire, touching is enough. No one is treated as innocent afterward, whatever excuse he brings.

בוא · bo · come, go in

To go in to a woman is the regular Hebrew expression for sexual relations.

רע · rea · fellow, companion

The word of verses 1 and 3. A man in your own community, whose home you are breaking into.

נגע · naga · touch, strike

To touch, and also to strike. The noun from this root comes back at him in verse 33.

נקה · naqah · be clean, be acquitted

To be held innocent. Related to naqi in verse 17, and the verb used in the third commandment (Exodus 20:7).

Proverbs 6:30

People are not too hard on a thief who steals food because he is starving.

People do not look down on a thief when he steals

A comparison begins. Theft is used as the lesser case, a wrong that people can at least understand.

to fill his stomach because he is starving.

His motive is real need. He takes food to stay alive, so there is some sympathy for him. The adulterer has no such need to point to.

בוז · buz · hold in contempt

To treat as beneath you. The verb used in 1:7 for what fools do to wisdom.

גנב · gannav · thief

From ganav, to steal, the verb of the eighth commandment.

מלא נפש · male nephesh · fill his appetite

Literally to fill his nephesh. Here nephesh has its physical sense, the throat or appetite that hunger empties.

רעב · ra'ev · be hungry

To be famished. The same root gives the word for famine.

Hebrew has no question mark, so the verse can also be read as a question: do people not despise a thief even when he is hungry? On either reading verse 31 makes the same point, that even he pays in full.

Proverbs 6:31

Even so, when he is caught he has to pay back seven times as much. It may cost him everything in his house.

Yet if he is caught he pays back seven times over;

Sympathy does not cancel the debt. Even the hungry thief must make full restitution, and more.

he hands over everything his household owns.

It may strip him of all he has. The argument is from the lesser to the greater: if this is what it costs to take bread, think what it costs to take a wife.

מצא · matsa · find, catch

To find, and so to catch in the act. The same verb in verse 33 says what the adulterer finds.

שלם · shalam · make whole, pay back

From the root of shalom. To restore what was taken so the loss is made complete again.

שבעתים · shiv'atayim · sevenfold

Sevenfold. The law set repayment for theft at double up to fivefold (Exodus 22:1-4), so seven here means in full measure, to the limit.

הון · hon · wealth, goods

Wealth, what a person owns. The gang in 1:13 hoped to find it; this thief loses all of his.

Proverbs 6:32

A man who takes someone else's wife has no sense at all. He is wrecking his own life.

The man who commits adultery with a woman has no sense;

The verdict. He is not called daring or passionate. He is called a man with nothing in the place where judgment should be.

whoever does it is destroying his own life.

This is why it is senseless. The damage does not fall mainly on someone else. He is the one being ruined, and he is doing it to himself.

נאף · na'aph · commit adultery

The verb of the seventh commandment (Exodus 20:14). Sexual relations with another person's spouse.

חסר לב · chasar lev · lacking heart

Literally lacking heart. The same phrase describes the young man at the window in 7:7.

שחת · shachat · ruin, corrupt

To spoil beyond use. The verb for the ruin of the earth before the flood (Genesis 6).

נפש · nephesh · soul, whole self

His nephesh, his very life. The thief stole to fill his nephesh; this man wrecks his.

Proverbs 6:33

He will get hurt, and people will think badly of him. That shame will never go away.

Blows and dishonor are what he will find,

Two concrete results. He will be physically beaten, most likely by the husband, and he will lose his standing in the community.

and his disgrace will never be wiped away.

The second line adds that it lasts. Bruises heal and a thief can repay, but this stain on his name stays for life.

נגע · nega · blow, stroke

From naga, the verb of verse 29. He touched her, and what he gets is a touch of another kind: a blow.

קלון · qalon · dishonor

From a root meaning to be light. To be treated as of no weight, the opposite of honor.

חרפה · cherpah · reproach

The scorn other people heap on someone; what is said about him from now on.

מחה · machah · wipe out, blot

To wipe clean, as writing is wiped off or a dish wiped out. This mark does not wipe off.

Proverbs 6:34

Her husband will be hurt and furious. When his chance comes to get even, he will not go easy on him.

For jealousy is a husband's burning rage,

The reason for verse 33. The injured husband's jealousy turns into fury. The adulterer was warned about fire, and here it is in human form.

and he will show no pity on the day he takes revenge.

When the husband gets his chance, he will hold nothing back. Appeals for mercy will not work on him.

קנאה · qin'ah · jealousy, zeal

The fierce feeling of one whose exclusive claim has been violated. The same word is used for God's jealousy over His people.

חמה · chemah · heat, rage

From a root meaning to be hot. The Hebrew is a noun: jealousy is the heat of a man.

גבר · gever · strong man

Not the general word for a person but one stressing strength. This is a man able to do damage.

חמל · chamal · spare, pity

To spare someone, to hold back from harming them.

נקם · naqam · revenge, requital

Paying back a wrong. The husband's day in court or his private revenge.

The law treated adultery as a capital offence for both parties (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22). The husband was the injured party who would press the case, which is why his anger and his refusal to settle matter so much here.

Proverbs 6:35

Nothing will make it right for him. No gift is big enough, no matter how much is offered.

He will not look at any compensation;

In many disputes the offender could pay the injured party to drop the matter. This husband will not even consider an offer.

he will not agree, however large you make the bribe.

Raising the amount changes nothing. The chapter began with a man who could still talk his way out of a pledge. It ends with a man who cannot buy his way out at any price.

נשא פנים · nasa panim · lift the face of

Literally to lift the face of, an idiom for showing favor or regard. He will not give a payment so much as a look.

כפר · kopher · ransom payment

A sum paid to buy off a penalty, as in Exodus 21:30. From the root that gives the word for atonement.

אבה · abah · be willing

To be willing, to consent. The verb of 1:10: he simply will not.

שחד · shochad · bribe

A payment made to turn a decision in your favor. Elsewhere it is the bribe that corrupts judges.