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Proverbs 2:16-20
New International Version
Proverbs 2:16-20
New International Version
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,(A)
from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a](B)
18 Surely her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.(C)
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.(D)
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:17 Or covenant of her God
Proverbs 2:16-20
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 2:16-20
Lexham English Bible
16 in order to deliver you from a strange woman,
from a foreign woman who flatters[a] with her sayings,
17 she who forsakes the partner of her youth
and has forgotten the covenant of her God,
18 for her house sinks to death,
and to the dead[b] are her paths.
19 Of all who go to her, none shall return,
nor do they reach paths of life.
20 So that you will walk on the road of those who are good,
and the paths of those who are righteous you shall keep.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:16 Or “makes smooth”
- Proverbs 2:18 Or “Rephaim”
Proverbs 5
New International Version
Proverbs 5
New International Version
Warning Against Adultery
5 My son,(A) pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words(B) of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;(C)
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,(D)
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.(E)
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.(F)
7 Now then, my sons, listen(G) to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Keep to a path far from her,(H)
do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you lose your honor to others
and your dignity[a] to one who is cruel,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich the house of another.(I)
11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!(J)
13 I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 And I was soon in serious trouble(K)
in the assembly of God’s people.”(L)
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain(M) be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.(N)
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer(O)—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:9 Or years
Proverbs 5
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 5
Lexham English Bible
5 My child, be attentive to my wisdom,
and to my understanding incline your ear;
2 in order to keep prudence,
and knowledge will guard your lips.
3 For the lips of the strange woman will drip honey,
and smoother than oil is her mouth.[a]
4 But her end is bitter as the wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps take hold of Sheol.[b]
6 She does not observe[c] the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
Do Not Commit Adultery Against Wisdom
7 Now, O children, listen to me;
do not depart from the sayings of my mouth.
8 Keep your paths far from her,
and do not go near to the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to the others,
and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 and you groan at your end,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and say “How I hated discipline,
and I despised reproof!”
13 and “I did not listen to the voice of my teachers,
and I did not incline my ear to my instructors!
14 I was almost at utter[d] ruin[e]
in the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern
and flowing waters from inside your own well.
16 Shall your springs be scattered outward?
In the streets, shall there be streams of water?
17 May they be yours alone,
and not for strangers who are with you.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife[f] of your youth.
19 She is a deer of love and a doe of grace;
may her breasts satisfy you always;[g]
by her love may you be intoxicated continually.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my child, by a strange woman,
and embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For before the eyes of Yahweh are human ways,[h]
and all his paths he examines.
22 His iniquities shall ensnare him, the evildoer,
and in the vanity of his sin he shall be caught.
23 He shall die for lack of[i] discipline,
and in the greatness of his folly he shall be lost.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:3 Or “palate”
- Proverbs 5:5 A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
- Proverbs 5:6 Or “examine, weigh”
- Proverbs 5:14 Or “all, every, whole”
- Proverbs 5:14 Or “evil”
- Proverbs 5:18 Or “woman”
- Proverbs 5:19 Literally “at all time”
- Proverbs 5:21 Literally “the ways of man/humankind”
- Proverbs 5:23 Literally “with there is no”
Proverbs 6:24-35
New International Version
Proverbs 6:24-35
New International Version
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife,
from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.(A)
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
but another man’s wife preys on your very life.(B)
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps(C) with another man’s wife;(D)
no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals
to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold,(E)
though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery(F) has no sense;(G)
whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot,
and his shame will never(H) be wiped away.
Proverbs 6:24-35
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 6:24-35
Lexham English Bible
24 in order to preserve you from an evil woman,[a]
from the smoothness of the tongue of an adulteress.[b]
25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart;
may she not capture you with her eyelashes.
26 For the price of a woman, a prostitute,[c] is the price of a loaf of bread,
but the woman belonging to a man[d] hunts precious life.
Warning Against Relations with a Married Woman
27 Can a man carry fire in his lap,
and his clothes not burn?
28 If a man walks upon the hot coals,
will his feet not be burned?
29 Thus, he who goes to the wife of his neighbor,
any who touches her shall not go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief when he steals
to fill himself[e] when he is hungry.
31 But if he is found, he will pay sevenfold,
every possession of his house he shall give.
32 He who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense,[f]
he destroys himself[g] who does it.
33 A wound and dishonor he will find,
and his disgrace will not be wiped out.
34 For jealousy is the fury of a husband,
and he will not show restraint on the day of revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation,[h]
and he will not be willing, though the bribe is large.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 6:24 Or “wife”
- Proverbs 6:24 Literally “a foreign woman”
- Proverbs 6:26 Or “whore”
- Proverbs 6:26 Literally “the woman of a man”
- Proverbs 6:30 Or “soul,” or “inner self”
- Proverbs 6:32 Literally “heart”
- Proverbs 6:32 Or “his soul,” or “his life”
- Proverbs 6:35 Literally “the face of any compensation”
Proverbs 7
New International Version
Proverbs 7
New International Version
Warning Against the Adulterous Woman
7 My son,(A) keep my words
and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;(B)
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.(C)
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and to insight, “You are my relative.”
5 They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words.(D)
6 At the window of my house
I looked down through the lattice.
7 I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the young men,
a youth who had no sense.(E)
8 He was going down the street near her corner,
walking along in the direction of her house
9 at twilight,(F) as the day was fading,
as the dark of night set in.
10 Then out came a woman to meet him,
dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.
11 (She is unruly(G) and defiant,
her feet never stay at home;
12 now in the street, now in the squares,
at every corner she lurks.)(H)
13 She took hold of him(I) and kissed him
and with a brazen face she said:(J)
14 “Today I fulfilled my vows,
and I have food from my fellowship offering(K) at home.
15 So I came out to meet you;
I looked for you and have found you!
16 I have covered my bed
with colored linens from Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed(L)
with myrrh,(M) aloes and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning;
let’s enjoy ourselves with love!(N)
19 My husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took his purse filled with money
and will not be home till full moon.”
21 With persuasive words she led him astray;
she seduced him with her smooth talk.(O)
22 All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer[a] stepping into a noose[b](P)
23 till an arrow pierces(Q) his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
little knowing it will cost him his life.(R)
Footnotes
- Proverbs 7:22 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew fool
- Proverbs 7:22 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
Proverbs 7
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 7
Lexham English Bible
Warning Against the Strange Woman
7 My child, guard my sayings;
store my commandments with you.
2 Keep my commands and live,
and my teaching like the apple of your eye.[a]
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom,[b] “you are my sister,”
and you shall call insight,[c] “intimate friend.”[d]
5 In order to guard yourself from an adulteress,[e]
from the foreigner who makes her words smooth.[f]
6 For at the window of my house,
through my lattice, I looked down.
7 And I saw among the simple,
I observed among the youth,
a young man lacking sense,[g]
8 passing on the street at[h] her corner,
and he takes the road to her house,
9 at twilight, at the day’s evening,
in the midst of night and the darkness.
10 Then behold! A woman comes to meet him
with the garment of a prostitute[i] and a secret heart.[j]
11 She is loud and stubborn;
her feet do not stay at her house.
12 Now in the street, now in the square,
at[k] every corner she lies in wait.
13 She took hold of [l] him and kissed him.
Her face was impudent, and she said to him,
14 “Sacrifices of peace offerings are upon me;
today[m] I completed my vows.
15 So[n] I have come out to meet you,
to seek your face, and I have found you.
16 With coverings I have adorned my couch,
spreads of the linen of Egypt;
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love making,
until the morning let us delight in love.
19 For there is no man[o] in his home;
he has gone on a long journey.[p]
20 The bag of money he took in his hand,
for on the day of the full moon he will come home.”
21 She persuades him with the greatness of her teachings;
with her smooth lips she compels him.
22 He goes after her suddenly;
like an ox to the slaughter he goes,
and like a stag to the instruction of a fool,
23 until an arrow pierces his entrails,[q]
like a bird rushing into a snare,
but he does not know that it will cost him his life.[r]
Reiteration of the Warning Against a Strange Woman
24 And now, my children, listen to me,
and be attentive to the sayings of my mouth.
25 May your heart not turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her path.
26 For many slain she has laid low,
and countless[s] are all of her killings.
27 The ways of Sheol[t] are her house,
descending to chambers of death.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 7:2 A single word meaning “pupil of the eye”
- Proverbs 7:4 Hebrew “the wisdom”
- Proverbs 7:4 Hebrew “the insight”
- Proverbs 7:4 Literally “one who is known.” To “know” is often a euphemism for intercourse. Therefore “intimate friend” may also be read “lover.”
- Proverbs 7:5 Literally “a strange woman”
- Proverbs 7:5 Literally “causes to be smooth her words”
- Proverbs 7:7 Literally “heart”
- Proverbs 7:8 Literally “at the place of”
- Proverbs 7:10 Or “whore”
- Proverbs 7:10 Literally “secret of heart”
- Proverbs 7:12 Literally “at the place of”
- Proverbs 7:13 Or “strengthened”
- Proverbs 7:14 Literally “the day”
- Proverbs 7:15 Hebrew “thus”
- Proverbs 7:19 Or “husband”
- Proverbs 7:19 Literally “a journey from far”
- Proverbs 7:23 Literally “heaviness,” often referring to the liver
- Proverbs 7:23 Literally “it is against his life”
- Proverbs 7:26 Or “strong men”
- Proverbs 7:27 A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
Proverbs 9:13-18
New International Version
Proverbs 9:13-18
New International Version
13 Folly is an unruly woman;(A)
she is simple and knows nothing.(B)
14 She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,(C)
15 calling out(D) to those who pass by,
who go straight on their way,
16 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense(E) she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet;
food eaten in secret is delicious!(F)”
18 But little do they know that the dead are there,
that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.(G)
Proverbs 9:13-18
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 9:13-18
Lexham English Bible
13 A woman of foolishness is loud,
simple, and does not know it.[a]
14 She sits at the door of her house,
upon a throne at the high places of town,
15 in order to call to those who pass by the road,
those who go straight on their way:
16 “Whoever is simple, may he turn here!”
As for he who lacks sense,[b] she says to him,
17 “Stolen waters are sweet,
and bread of secrecy is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead[c] are there,
in the depths of Sheol[d] are her guests.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 9:13 Literally “what”
- Proverbs 9:16 Literally “heart”
- Proverbs 9:18 Or “Rephaim”
- Proverbs 9:18 A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
Proverbs 22:14
New International Version
Proverbs 22:14
New International Version
Proverbs 22:14
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 22:14
Lexham English Bible
14 A deep pit is the mouth of an adulteress,[a]
he with whom Yahweh is angry will fall there.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 22:14 Literally “a strange woman”
Proverbs 23:26-28
New International Version
Proverbs 23:26-28
New International Version
Saying 18
Proverbs 23:26-28
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 23:26-28
Lexham English Bible
26 My child, may you give your heart[a] to me,
and may your eyes delight in my ways.
27 For a deep pit is a prostitute,[b]
and a narrow well is an adulteress.[c]
28 She is also like a robber lying in wait,
and the faithless among mankind she increases.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:26 Or “mind”
- Proverbs 23:27 Or “whore”
- Proverbs 23:27 Literally “a foreign woman”
Proverbs 29:3
New International Version
Proverbs 29:3
New International Version
Proverbs 29:3
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 29:3
Lexham English Bible
3 A man who loves wisdom will make his parents glad,
but the friend of prostitutes[a] will squander his wealth.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 29:3 Or “whores”
Proverbs 30:20
New International Version
Proverbs 30:20
New International Version
20 “This is the way of an adulterous woman:
She eats and wipes her mouth
and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’(A)
Proverbs 30:20
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 30:20
Lexham English Bible
20 This is the way of a woman committing adultery:
she eats and wipes her mouth,
and says “I have not done wrong.”
Proverbs 31:2-3
New International Version
Proverbs 31:2-3
New International Version
Proverbs 31:2-3
Lexham English Bible
Proverbs 31:2-3
Lexham English Bible
2 What, my son? And what, my son in my womb?
And what, son of my vows?
3 Do not give your strength to the women,
and your ways to destroy kings.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
Lexham English Bible (LEB)
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