Proverbs 6:26

Pro 6:26 For by means of a whorish woman [a man is brought] to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

Ver. 26. For by means of a whorish woman.] {See Trapp on "Pro 5:10"} These creatures know no other language but that of the horse leech’s daughter, Give, give, and may fitly be compared to the ravens of Arabia, that, fully gorged, have a tunable, sweet record, but empty, screech horribly; or to carrion crows, that flock to a dead carcase, not to defend it, but to devour it; and no sooner have they bared the bones but they are gone. Thus dame Alice Peirce, King Edward III’s concubine, served him while he lived; all was here as she would; and when this king lay dying, she packed away what she could snatch, even to the rings on his fingers, and so left him. {a}

“ Corpus, opes, animum, famam, vim, lumina, scortum

Debilitat, perdit, necat, aufert, cripit, orbat."

Will hunt for the precious life.] As Potiphar’s wife did for Joseph’s. {Gen 39:14} And surely it was a great providence of God that, upon her false accusation, he had not been presently put to death. Into prison he was thrown, and so laden with fetters, that "the iron entered into his soul" Psa 105:18 - i.e., ate into his flesh, and all by means of this whorish woman, whose lust turned into hatred. Aut te ardenter amat, aut te capitaliter odit. {b} {See Trapp on "Pro 5:11"}

{a} Daniel’s Chronicle.

{b} Mantuan.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:26 Sleeping with a prostitute has consequences, and sleeping with another man’s wife can cost you your life. Her husband will seek revenge (6:34-35), and God is watching in judgment.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The supplied words give a better sense than the old version: "The price of a whore is a piece of bread."

adulteress--(Compare Margin), which the parallel and context (Pro 6:29-35) sustain. Of similar results of this sin, compare Pro 5:9-12.

will hunt--alluding to the snares spread by harlots (compare Pro 7:6-8).

precious life--more valuable than all else.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 26. By means of a whorish woman] In following lewd women, a man is soon reduced to poverty and disease. The Septuagint gives this a strange turn: τιμη γαρ πορνης, οση και ενος αρτου. "For the price or hire of a whore is about one loaf." So many were they in the land, that they hired themselves out for a bare subsistence. The Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, give the same sense. The old MS. Bible has it thus: The price forsothe of a strumpet is unneth oon lof: the woman forsothe taketh the precious liif of a man. The sense of which is, and probably the sense of the Hebrew too, While the man hires the whore for a single loaf of bread; the woman thus hired taketh his precious life. She extracts his energy, and poisons his constitution. In the first clause אשה זונה ishshah zonah is plainly a prostitute; but should we render אשת esheth, in the second clause, an adulteress? I think not. The versions in general join אשת איש esheth ish, together, which, thus connected, signify no more than the wife of a man; and out of this we have made adulteress, and Coverdale a married woman. I do not think that the Old MS. Bible gives a good sense; and it requires a good deal of paraphrase to extract the common meaning from the text. Though the following verses seem to countenance the common interpretation, yet they may contain a complete sense of themselves; but, taken in either way, the sense is good, though the construction is a little violent.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. the adulteress] Lit. a man’s wife. It is the same woman who is contemplated in both clauses of the verse, a married woman, who has become a “whorish woman.”

will hunt] Rather, hunteth, R.V. Not only substance (Pro_6:31) but life itself (Pro_6:34-35) may be the forfeit, and a more precious substance than bodily life also. “Every sin is the precursor of spiritual bankruptcy; it is setting one’s hand to a bill, which when it comes in must break the wealthiest signatory.” Horton, p. 75.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Can a man take fire in his bosom,.... A whore is compared to fire, and is so called by the poets (o); and it is a saying of Pythagoras,

"it is a like thing to fall into fire and into a woman (p);''

the Hebrew words "esh", "fire", and "ishah", "a woman", have some affinity in sound; and the phrase of taking it "into the bosom" fitly expresses the impure embraces of a harlot;

and his clothes not be burned? he cannot, it is impossible; and equally vain is it to think that a man can commit whoredom and it not be known, or he not hurt by it in his name and substance, or in his body, soul, and life.

(o) Plauti Bacehides, Act. 4. Sc. 9. v. 15. "Accede ad ignem hunc", Terent. Eunuehus, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 5. (p) , apud Maximum, Eclog. c. 39.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The two forms of evil bring, each of them, their own penalty. By the one a man is brought to such poverty as to beg for “a piece of bread” (compare 1Sa 2:36): by the other and more deadly sin he incurs a peril which may affect his life. The second clause is very abrupt and emphatic in the original; “but as for a man’s wife; she hunts for the precious life.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Woman. Who is married, exposes her lover to the danger of death. She chooses the most accomplished men, while the harlot receives the first comer. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To a piece of bread; to extreme poverty, so as to want and be forced to beg his bread. Hunt for the precious life; to take away a man’s life; either by consuming his body and spirits, and so shortening his days; or more directly and strictly, when she hath any great provocation to it, or any prospect of considerable advantage by it. Or, for the precious soul, which she corrupteth and destroyeth. But I prefer the former sense.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. This verse is difficult because of the supposed ellipsis, and is variously rendered by the versions and critics. The ellipsis indicated by the italics renders the meaning doubtful. The meaning most approved is, that licentiousness leads to starvation, even to a last morsel of bread. There is no verb in the first member of the verse, and one must be supposed, it is possible that תצוד, tatsudh, in the latter clause, rendered will hunt, (better, lies in wait, or, lays snares,) or some verb of similar meaning, is implied in the first clause. The sense thus might be, that while the harlot lies in wait for bread she also lays snares for the precious life. Some eminent authorities refer the terms to two different classes of evil women — the harlot and the adulteress. By the one the man is brought to poverty, by the other into peril of his life.

Adulteress — The Hebrew denotes, the woman of a man, and is hence rendered adulteress. But this meaning is not certain. The Septuagint has γυνη ανδρων, meaning, a woman of men, that is, of more than one man — a common woman. The Hebrew ish, like our word man, is often used in the plural sense, each one, every one, or any one. If this be the sense of the words they would only be another term for ishshah zonah, a harlot, in the preceding clause, and both predicates, the hunting for bread and the hunting for the life, would apply to the same kind of vile person, namely, a lewd woman, married or single. But Miller renders thus: “For after a woman selling herself as low as for a loaf of bread, and she a man’s wife, a precious soul will hunt.” Conant, however, thus: “For a harlot is but a round (loaf) of bread, but the married woman hunts for the precious life.” Round or loaf means her hire. The law punished adultery with death. Lev_20:10; Deu_22:22; Eze_16:40; Joh_8:5.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread. From this verse onwards to the end of the chapter the discourse consists of a series of arguments, each calculated to deter youth from the sins of fornication and adultery, by exhibiting the evil consequences of such indulgence. The first is the poverty and extreme beggary to which a man is brought. For by means of; Hebrew, ki v"ad. Lee gives the preposition vaad the force of "after," i.e. after associating with. The radical idea of the preposition is that of nearness, by, near, and easily passes to that of "because" (Gesenius) or "by means of," as in the Authorized Version. It is here used for per, "through," as in Jos_2:15 2Sa_20:23, and so indicates the transit through the way of fornication to extreme beggary (Gejerus). A whorish woman; Hebrew, ishshah zonah; Vulgate, scortum; LXX, pornh ; "a harlot," here corresponding to "the adulteress" (esheth ish), since the root zonah, "to commit fornication," is attributed both to married and unmarried women. (Gen_38:24 Lev_19:29 Hos_3:3) The word zonah is sometimes written alone, as in Gen_38:15 and Deu_23:19. The fuller expression, as here, occurs in Lev_21:7 Jos_2:1 Jud_1:11:1. To a piece of bread; Hebrew, adkikkar lakhem. It will be noticed that there is an ellipsis in the Hebrew, which, however, may be easily supplied, as in the Authorized Version. Delitzsch supplies "one cometh down to;" so Zockler. "A piece of bread" is properly "a circle of bread, a small round piece of bread, such as is still baked in Italy (pagnotta) and in the East (Arabic kurs), here an expression for the smallest piece" (Fleischer). The term occurs in Exo_29:23 1Sa_2:36, in the latter of which passages it expresses the extreme destitution to which the members of the house of Eli were to be reduced. As illustrating the term, see also Exo_38:21 and Eze_13:19. The LXX and Vulgate singularly render, "For the price of a harlot is scarcely that of a bit of bread," which may mean, as Castalio, that she is of so little value; but the context is opposed to this rendering, where the Point brought out is not the vile character of the harlot as the ruin she inflicts or is the cause of. Besides, the Hebrew ad does not mean ever "scarcely," or "hardly," which the Vulgate vix gives to it. And the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. The adulteress is isheth ish, literally, "the woman of a man," or "a man"s wife," as in the margin as, therefore, strictly an adulteress here. (cf. Lev_20:10) Will hunt; Hebrew, thatsud; LXX, agreuei ; Vulgate, capit. The Hebrew verb tsud, "to lie in wait for," "to hunt," also signifies "to take, or capture," like the Vulgate capere, The verb in its metaphorical use also occurs in Lam_3:52 Mic_7:2 Psa_140:12, and refers to those beguilements resorted to by the adulteress to seduce youth. In Eze_13:18 it carries with it the idea of death, and if understood in this sense here it may have reference to the death penalty inflicted on adulterer and adulteress by the Mosaic Law, (Lev_20:10) and introduces what is said more fully in vers. 32, 34, 35. The precious life; Hebrew, nephesh y"karah The epithet y"karah is appropriately added to nephesh, as indicating the high value of the life. All is implied in the nephesh, "the life," moral dignity of character, the soul of man. It is the ever-existing part of the man, and therefore is precious nothing can exceed it in value. Our Lord says, (Mat_16:26) "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" and the psalmist, (Psa_49:8) "For the redemption of their life is precious." But it is for this life, or soul, that the adulteress hunts, and which she destroys. Lives of fornication and adultery, therefore, carry with them the severest penalties, the loss of temporal possessions, for the enjoyment of a transient passion, and far beyond this the loss of life both temporal and eternal. We cannot imagine a more deterrent warning.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the price of a loaf of bread

This is talking about the material cost, not the spiritual cost or the moral cost. AT: "a little bit"

may cost you your very life

Possible meanings are 1) the wife of another man will destroy your life because she always wants more or 2) the husband of the other woman will hunt you down and kill you.

Can a man carry a fire against his chest without burning his clothes?

This action would be very dangerous and would cause harm. The implied answer to the question is "no." AT: "Every man who carries a fire in his chest will burn his clothes." (See: Rhetorical Question)

without burning

"without destroying" or "and not destroy"

his clothes

His clothes stand for him as a whole person. (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

prostitute

life

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Because a man is brought to a loaf of bread for a harlot He is reduced to poverty and the lack of all good things.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.