The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
Parallel translations
- WEB The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it.
- KJV The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
- NKJV The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit; He who is abhorred by the Lord will fall there.
- NASB The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; He who is cursed of the Lord will fall into it.
- NLT The mouth of an immoral woman is a dangerous trap; those who make the Lord angry will fall into it.
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 seductive speech of an immoral woman is a deep pit; the ungodly fall into it. It matters as a warning against sexual sin and its entrapment.
Overview
The flattering words of an adulteress are a deadly trap, and those under God's judgment fall in (Proverbs 2:16-19; 5:3-5). The verse warns of the destructive power of sexual temptation. It echoes Proverbs' larger call to flee immorality and cling to wisdom, which guards the way of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eccl 7:26And 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.
- Prov 23:27For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
- Prov 6:24–29to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
- Prov 7:5–27that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.
- Neh 13:26Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
- Judg 16:20–21Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
- Prov 2:16–19It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
- Prov 5:3–23Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- Deut 32:19When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
- Ps 81:12So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 22:14 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.