To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Parallel translations
- WEB to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.
- BSB to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
- NKJV To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
- NASB To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the foreign woman.
- NLT It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.
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
This instruction guards you from the seductive, immoral woman and her flattering words. Wisdom protects against sexual temptation.
Overview
Here the purpose of keeping wisdom becomes explicit: to keep the son from the adulteress and her smooth, enticing speech. The warning fits the wider section on sexual purity and the dangers of flattery. God's word is presented as the true safeguard of the heart against alluring sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Eccl 7:26And 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.
- Prov 2:16To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
- Prov 7:5That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
- Prov 5:3For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
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 6:24 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.