And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.
Parallel translations
- WEB I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.
- KJV And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
- NKJV And I find more bitter than death The woman whose heart is snares and nets, Whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God shall escape from her, But the sinner shall be trapped by her.
- NASB And I discovered as more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
- NLT I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be caught in her snare.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Preacher found more bitter than death the seductress whose heart is a snare; the one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is caught. It matters because it warns that enticement to sin is a deadly trap, and only God's favor delivers from it.
Overview
Drawing on Proverbs' warnings about the adulteress (Proverbs 5; 7), the Preacher depicts the snare of seductive temptation as deadlier than death. The verse is not a blanket statement against women but a warning against the entrapment of immorality. Deliverance comes by pleasing God, ultimately through the grace of Christ, who rescues sinners from sin's deadly snares and grants the favor that sets us free.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 22:14The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
- Prov 5:3–5Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- Prov 2:16It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
- Prov 2:18–19For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
- Eccl 2:26To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- Prov 7:21–27With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him.
- Prov 23:27–28For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
- Judg 16:18–21When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands.
- Prov 9:18But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 7:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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