Solomon persuades to a sincere and kind familiarity with wisdom, 1-5. In an example of his own experience, he shows, 6-9, the cunning of a harlot, 10-21; and the desperate simplicity of a young incontinent man, 22, 23. He dissuades from such wickedness, 24-27.
1 My son, keep my words/
and lay up my commandments with you.
2 Keep my commandments and live,/
and my law as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them upon your fingers./
Write them upon the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"/
and call understanding your kinswoman,
5 So that they may keep you from the strange woman,/
from the stranger who flatters with her words.
6 For at the window of my house/
I looked through my casement,
7 And beheld among the simple ones./
I discerned among the youths/
a young man void of understanding,
8 Passing through the street near her corner./
And he went the way to her house,
9 In the twilight, in the evening,/
in the black and dark night.
10 And behold, a woman met him/
with the attire of a harlot, and subtle of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn./
Her feet do not abide in her house.
12 Now she is outside, now in the streets,/
and lies in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him, kissed him,/
and with an impudent face said to him,
14 "I have peace-offerings with me./
This day I have paid my vows.
15 Therefore, I came forth to meet you,/
diligently to seek your face, and I have found you.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry,/
with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed/
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning./
Let us solace ourselves with affection.
19 For the husband is not at home./
He has gone on a long journey.
20 He has taken a bag of money with him/
and will come home at the day appointed."
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield./
With the flattering of her lips she impelled him.
22 He goes after her quickly,/
as an ox goes to the slaughter,/
or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
23 Until a dart strikes through his liver,/
as a bird hastens to the snare,/
and does not know that it is for his life.
24 Now therefore, listen to me, O children,/
and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Do not let your heart decline to her ways./
Do not go astray in her paths.
26 For she has cast down many wounded,/
and many strong men have been slain by her.
27 Her house is the way to hell,/
going down to the chambers of death.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Proverbs, Chapter 7[➚]
John Gill's Chapter Summary:
The sum of this chapter is to exhort men to attend to the doctrines and precepts of Wisdom in order to avoid the adulterous woman, the exhortation to keep them with care, affection, and delight, in order to answer the end (Proverbs 7:1-5). A story is told, from Solomon's own knowledge, of a young man ensnared and ruined by a lewd woman, it begins (Proverbs 7:6). The young man is described as foolish and as throwing himself in the way of temptation (Proverbs 7:7-9); the harlot who met him is described by her attire, her subtlety, her voice, her inconstancy, her impudence, and pretensions to piety (Proverbs 7:10-14). The arguments she made use of to prevail upon him to go with her are taken partly from the elegance of her bed, the softness of it, and its sweet perfume, and satiety of love to be enjoyed in it (Proverbs 7:15-18); and partly from the absence of her husband, who was gone a long journey, and had made provision for it for a certain time (Proverbs 7:19,20). By which arguments she prevailed upon him to his utter ruin, which is illustrated by the similes of an ox going to the slaughter, a fool to the stocks, and a bird to the snare (Proverbs 7:21-23). And the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to hearken to the words of Wisdom and to avoid the ways and paths of the harlot, by which many and mighty persons have been ruined, they being the direct road to hell and death (Proverbs 7:24-27).