Proverbs 7

General context

The speaker tells "My son" to keep his words and commandments, to keep his law as the apple of his eye, and to call wisdom his sister and understanding his kinswoman, so that they may keep him from the strange woman who flatters with her words. He then reports what he saw from the window of his house: among the simple ones and the youths he discerned a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner and going the way to her house in the twilight and the dark night. A woman meets him in the attire of a harlot, subtil of heart; the narrator adds in parenthesis that she is loud and stubborn, that her feet do not stay in her house, and that she lies in wait at every corner. She catches him, kisses him and speaks with an impudent face. Her speech is given in full: she has peace offerings and has paid her vows that day, she came out to seek his face and has found him, she has decked her bed with tapestry and fine linen of Egypt and perfumed it with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon, and she invites him to take their fill of love until morning, because the goodman is not at home and will not return until the appointed day. With her fair speech she causes him to yield, and he goes after her as an ox to the slaughter, as a fool to the stocks, and as a bird to the snare, not knowing it is for his life. The speaker then turns to "ye children" and tells them not to let their hearts decline to her ways, because she has cast down many wounded and slain many strong men, and her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

Cited passages: Proverbs 7:1, Proverbs 7:2, Proverbs 7:3, Proverbs 7:4, Proverbs 7:5, Proverbs 7:6, Proverbs 7:7, Proverbs 7:8, Proverbs 7:9, Proverbs 7:10, Proverbs 7:11, Proverbs 7:12, Proverbs 7:13, Proverbs 7:14, Proverbs 7:15, Proverbs 7:16, Proverbs 7:17, Proverbs 7:18, Proverbs 7:19, Proverbs 7:20, Proverbs 7:21, Proverbs 7:22, Proverbs 7:23, Proverbs 7:24, Proverbs 7:25, Proverbs 7:26, Proverbs 7:27

Proverbs 7 (KJV)

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Historical context

The scene is presented as something the speaker says he saw from his own window, in the first person; the chapter does not say whether it is a single remembered event or a typical case, and the young man and the woman are both unnamed. The woman is described as wearing "the attire of an harlot", but her own words speak of "the goodman" who is away on a journey, so the text presents her as a married woman dressed as a harlot rather than settling on one description. Her mention of peace offerings and paid vows is her claim, in her own speech; the narrator does not confirm it, and the chapter does not say what the offerings had to do with her invitation. "Fine linen of Egypt" is the only place named, and it names the origin of the linen, not the setting of the scene. The time is marked carefully by the narrator, twilight, evening and dark night, and the place as the street near her corner. Verses 11 and 12 are set off in parenthesis in the KJV as the narrator's comment on her habits, distinct from what the young man could see. The close says she has "cast down many wounded" and that "many strong men have been slain by her"; the text does not name them or say how they died.

Cited passages: Proverbs 7:6, Proverbs 7:7, Proverbs 7:10, Proverbs 7:19, Proverbs 7:14, Proverbs 7:16, Proverbs 7:9, Proverbs 7:11, Proverbs 7:26

Literary context

This is the only chapter in the opening discourses that tells a scene with a setting, characters, dialogue and outcome. It is framed by instruction: verses 1 to 5 before, verses 24 to 27 after, both addressed to the son or children and both naming the strange woman and her flattering words. Inside the frame, the narrator withholds any speech from the young man; only the woman speaks, and her speech runs seven verses, longer than any other quoted speech by a human figure in these chapters. Her speech moves from religion (offerings, vows) to intimacy (bed, perfume) to reassurance (the husband is away), and each stage is in the first person, with "I have" repeated across verses 14 to 17. The narrator then reports the result with three comparisons in a row, ox, fool, bird, each an image of something walking into its own destruction without knowing it. The instruction to call wisdom "my sister" and understanding "kinswoman" in verse 4 sets a female figure of safety against the female figure of danger, a contrast the book develops in chapters 8 and 9. The last word of the chapter is "death", matching 2:18, "her house inclineth unto death", and 5:5, "Her feet go down to death".

Cited passages: Proverbs 7:5, Proverbs 7:24, Proverbs 7:13, Proverbs 7:15, Proverbs 7:17, Proverbs 7:20, Proverbs 7:22, Proverbs 7:23, Proverbs 7:4, Proverbs 7:27

Key moments

1. Wisdom as sister (Proverbs 7:4). The son is told to call wisdom his sister and understanding his kinswoman.
2. Seen from the window (Proverbs 7:6). The speaker says he watched the scene from the casement of his own house.
3. A young man at dusk (Proverbs 7:8). A young man void of understanding walks near her corner as night falls.
4. She catches and kisses him (Proverbs 7:13). The woman in a harlot's attire seizes him, kisses him and speaks with an impudent face.
5. The perfumed bed (Proverbs 7:17). She describes her bed, perfumed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
6. The goodman is away (Proverbs 7:19). She says the goodman has gone on a long journey with a bag of money.
7. As an ox to the slaughter (Proverbs 7:22). He follows her at once, compared to an ox, a fool and a bird going to their deaths.

For reflection

The narrator gives the woman seven verses of speech and gives the young man none. What is lost or gained for the reader by hearing only the invitation and never the reply?