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Proverbs 7

Proverbs 7 exposes the deadly end of adultery’s promises and urges the reader to keep wisdom close before temptation arrives.

A teacher urges a son to treasure his commands and treat wisdom as close kin. He then describes watching a young man without understanding walk toward a married woman’s house after dark. She meets him with kisses and persuasive words, promising pleasure while her husband is away. The young man follows, unaware of the danger. Whether this is a remembered event or an illustrative account is unclear. The teacher closes by warning his sons that her path leads to death.

temptationmarriage strainsermon or Bible study notes
Read
1My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you.
2Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.
3Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.” Call understanding your relative,
5that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
6For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.
7I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,
8passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,
9in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent.
11She is loud and defiant. Her feet don’t stay in her house.
12Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.
13So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:
14“Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows.
16I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
19For my husband isn’t at home. He has gone on a long journey.
21With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
22He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.
23Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.
24Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths,
26for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.
27Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Proverbs 7:1The opening command establishes treasured instruction as protection against the persuasive words that dominate the later scene.
Proverbs 7:3Binding and writing picture instruction kept close to both action and desire, preparing for the warning about a wandering heart.
Proverbs 7:22The slaughter image breaks the spell of promised pleasure, revealing the danger the young man fails to see.
Where this chapter reaches

Deuteronomy shares the imagery of keeping commands on the heart and binding them to the hand, joining remembrance with obedience. Jeremiah also uses the image of writing on the heart, though there God promises to write his law within his people.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

Which details in the woman’s speech make danger sound safe, and what does the narrator reveal?

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What might writing wisdom on your heart look like before a moment of temptation?

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Questions people ask about Proverbs 7

Who is the strange woman in Proverbs 7?

She is a married woman who seeks a sexual encounter while her husband is away. The chapter gives no name or personal history. Although the opening calls her a foreigner, the scene centers on her flattery and adultery; it provides no details about her nationality.

Why does the woman mention peace offerings in Proverbs 7?

Peace offerings included a shared meal, so her mention of sacrifices may signal that food is ready for a feast. Saying she has paid her vows also brings religious observance into her appeal. The text does not explain her precise intent, but her next words lead toward an adulterous encounter.

What does the ox going to slaughter mean in Proverbs 7:22?

The image shows the gap between the young man’s expectation and the danger ahead. He follows the woman toward pleasure with no grasp of the cost. The surrounding images of a noose, an arrow, and a bird’s snare reinforce the warning, which ends with her house leading to Sheol, the realm of death.

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What the Bible says about temptation →What the Bible says about marriage →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).