For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
Parallel translations
- WEB For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
- BSB Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- NKJV For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil;
- NASB For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, And her speech is smoother than oil;
- NLT For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.
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 adulteress's words are sweet as honey and smooth as oil. Temptation often comes through attractive, flattering speech.
Overview
The warning turns to the seductive woman, whose speech drips with honeyed flattery and smoothness. The danger is presented first as alluring words, for temptation rarely advertises its true nature. The wise must discern that what is sweet to the senses may be deadly, as the next verse reveals.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Prov 2:16To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
- Prov 6:24To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
- Prov 7:5That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
- Prov 7:21With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
- Ps 55:21The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.
- Rev 17:2–6With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
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 5:3 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.