Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.
- KJV She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
- NKJV She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men.
- NASB Certainly she lurks as a robber, And increases the treacherous among mankind.
- NLT She hides and waits like a robber, eager to make more men unfaithful.
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 seductress lies in wait like a robber, multiplying unfaithfulness among men.
Overview
Sexual temptation is portrayed as predatory, ambushing the unwary and spreading betrayal. The image of a lurking robber stresses that the danger actively seeks victims. The proverb calls for watchfulness against temptation, echoing the New Testament's summons to flee sexual immorality and stay alert (1 Cor. 6:18; 1 Pet. 5:8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 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 7:12Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner.
- 1 Cor 10:8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
- Hos 4:11Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
- Rev 17:1–2Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
- 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 2:16–19It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
- Prov 7:22–27He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap,
- Jer 3:2“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
- Num 25:1While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
- Judg 16:4–22Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
- Prov 9:18But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
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 23:28 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.