1Solomon again exhorteth to attend to his wise counsels. 3The mischiefs of whoredom and riot. 15An exhortation to abide by the pleasures of chaste marriage. 22The wicked are overtaken with their own sins.
1MY son, attend unto my 1wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
1 On the difference of these two words, wisdom and understanding, see Prov. 1 on verse 2.
2That thou mayest regard 2discretion, and that thy 3lips may keep knowledge.
2 Hebr. discretions. See Prov. 1 on verse 4.
3 Namely, whereby thou mayest impart and communicate that knowledge unto others, which thou gettest by my teaching and instruction. Compare Mal. 2:7.
3 ¶ 4For the 5lips 6of a strange woman 7drop as an honeycomb,a and 8her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 Here a reason is given why the previous exhortation should take place with men.
5 That is, the words. See Job 2 on verse 10. The same signification has the word mouth that follows. Hebr. palate. Also Job 31:30.
6 See Prov. 2 on verse 16.
7 That is, bring forth sweet and pleasant words without ceasing, whereby young men are allured to her love. See of this phrase, Deut. 32:2 and the annotation.
a Prov. 2:16; 6:24.
8 That is, her words slip into the heart by reason of her sweet and pleasant flattery, as oil slips into the stomach by reason of the smoothness and slipperiness thereof. Compare Prov. 26:28.
4But 9her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as 10a twoedged sword.
9 Or, her last. The meaning is: that the event or issue of all the pleasantness and sweetness of the strange woman and of those who cleave unto her, is no otherwise than as follows in the text. Thus the original word is taken for an unhappy end, Deut. 32:20; Prov. 14:13; 23:32; Amos 8:10.
10 Hebr. a sword of mouths, that is, which has two mouths. Meaning: a two-edged sword, or a sword that cuts on both sides. So Psalm 149:6; Heb. 4:12.
5Herb feet go down to 11death; her steps 12take hold on 13hell.
b Prov. 7:27.
11 By death and hell is in this place meant not only temporal death and the visible grave, but also eternal death, and hell itself.
12 That is, tend thither, so that they shall not in any wise escape it.
13 See of the significations of the word hell, Gen. 37 on verse 35.
614Lest thou shouldest ponder the 15path of life, her 16ways are 17moveable, 18that thou canst not 19know them.
14 That is, so that you do not come to consider by yourself that one is able to associate with her and at the same time retain the way of life. Do know that her ways and manner of action are so moveable, changeable and erring in the managing of all subtlety to lure you in a way that you are not able to notice it, and shall consequently be caught by her in the net of destruction.
15 That is, the path which leads unto true life. See Prov. 2 on verse 19.
16 Hebr. footsteps, that is, her words and works.
17 Or, move to and fro, hither & thither, are wavering, that is, straying, uncertain, driven with all winds, now cleaving to this, anon to that man, and that for to deceive and seduce men.
18 Or, that thou art not aware of it or discerneth it not, namely, that her steps stray from the path of life and lead a man unto death.
19 The Hebrew word is often so taken. See Job 5 on verse 24.
7Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
820Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
20 That is, have no fellowship with her, and beware of coming close to her.
9Lest thou 21give thine 22honour 23unto others, and thy 24years unto thec25cruel:
21 Namely, as a prey and booty, to be deprived of it.
22 That is, your youth, strength, means, good name and soul’s prosperity. Understand among these also the children which the whoremonger gets by the whore, for they, for the most part, abide in the house of the adulteress, or of her that breaks wedlock.
23 Namely, unto the adulteress and her husband.
24 Namely, your youthful years, and the best time of your life.
c Prov. 6:34, 35.
25 Understand the whores’ company and the whore’s husband, who shall cruelly persecute you and deliver you over unto the authorities. Compare Prov. 6:34, 35.
10Lest 26strangers be filled 27with thy wealth; and 28thy labours be in the house of a 29stranger;
26 Understand, not only the adulteress and her husband, but also all owners of places of prostitutions, male or female pimps, and all the adulterous crew, that reap any profit or gain by such unclean and filthy acts.
27 That is, with your temporal means or estate. Also Hosea 7:9.
28 That is, all that you have gotten or gained by your labor, joined with pain and trouble. Compare Prov. 14:23; Isa. 58:3.
29 Or, of an alien, foreigner, outlandish person; also verse 20.
11And thou 30mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
30 Or, cry, roar. The Hebrew word signifies properly the noise and roaring that beasts and especially loins make, when they are in any danger or distress, although they are not sensible from where it comes. Compare Psalm 32:3; Isa. 5:29, 30; Ezek. 24:23.
12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
1431I was almost in all 32evil 33in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
31 Hebr. I was almost or within a little in all evil.
32 Namely, the evil of punishment, See Gen. 19 on verse 19. Or, understand with it also the evil of guilt; of which see Job 20:12.
33 That is, publicly before the church of God and the entire world.
15 ¶ 34Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running 35waters out of thine own well.
34 This is a figurative description unto the 19th verse inclusive, showing the duty and prosperity and quietness of mind of those who live purely and chastely in the holy state of wedlock, according to the ordinance of God. The meaning is: that everyone ought to delight only in his own lawful yokefellow in all honesty and sobriety, as follows in verses 18 and 19. Others have understood this of the lawful possession and use of temporal goods and riches, and of the liberality and mercifulness that we ought to show therewith unto the poor and needy.
35 Or, streams.
16Let thy 36fountains be dispersed abroad, and 37rivers of waters in the streets.
36 Meaning: your children, who issue from you as from a fountain. Compare Isa. 51:1. The sense is: that everyone ought to bring up his children honestly that they may not only be a grace and a credit to their family, but also in their places according to their abilities be useful and serviceable unto others.
37 See Psalm 1 on verse 3.
1738Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
38 Namely, that they only acknowledge thee as their father, and thou acknowledge them to be thy children: which cannot be done among those children that are born of an adulteress.
1839Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
39 That is, thy lawful wife, from whom thy children do proceed as from a springing fountain.
19Let her be as the 40loving hind and 41pleasant roe; let her breasts 42satisfy thee at all times; and be thou 43ravished always with her love.
40 Hebr. hind of love. Of this mention is made here because she is most dearly and intimately beloved of the hart, as some do write.
41 Hebr. roe of pleasantness.
42 Or, moisten, drench, refresh thee, that is, fill thee with joy and pleasure. Compare Prov. 7:18.
43 That is, enjoy thyself with her, as a man uses to delight himself in the thing that is lawful, and so to forget himself in it, that he not once regards the thing that is unlawful.
20And why wilt thou, my son, be 44ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a 45stranger?
44 That is, in the love of a strange woman.
45 Or, foreign, outlandish woman.
21For the ways 46of man are before the eyesd of the LORD, and he 47pondereth all his goings.
46 Or, of every one.
d 2 Chron. 16:9; Job 31:4; 34:21; Prov. 15:3; Jer. 16:17; 32:19.
47 Hebr. pondereth all his steps, that is, He trieth, as with a plummet, every one’s ways, whether they be right or crooked, knowing fully all the commissions and omissions of men.
22¶His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23He shall die 48without instruction; and in the 49greatness of his folly he shall 50go astray.
48 That is, because he would not hear instruction or discipline, or, when he heard it, would not accept it.
49 Or, multitude; that is, great or manifold folly.
50 Namely, from the way of life, and so run to damnation.