Proverbs 6:32

Pro 6:32 [But] whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he [that] doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

Ver. 32. Lacketh understanding.] Being wholly carried by sensual appetite, against the dictates both of religion and of reason. Beetles love dunghills better than ointments, and swine love mud better than a garden. Luther tells of a certain noble in his country so besotted with the sin of whoredom, he was not ashamed to say, that if he might ever live here, and be carried from one whore house to another, there to satisfy his lusts, he would never desire any other heaven. This filthy man did afterwards breathe out his wretched soul between two notorious harlots.

Destroyeth his own soul.] It is not therefore leve peccatum, a small sin, as the pope’s canonists call it. {a} Divine justice doth not use to kill flies with beetles.

{a} Loniceri Theat. Histor., p. 568.

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.

Pro_6:32

He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

The suicide of the soul

Lovely as maiden purity is, and crowned with benedictions though it is by Christ, we have here to learn its excellence and fear its loss, by the sad, stern picture of impurity and shameless sin. In these sad proverbs of purity the wise man pictures to us in fearful personification wisdoms rival standing in the same great thoroughfares of earth and bidding to her shameful pleasures the simple youth who throng the broad and crowded way. This is no fancy picture allegorising the dangers of youth. It is drawn from reality, from every-day life. There is no mistake in the outline, no exaggeration in the colouring. The power of sin lies in its pleasure. They are mistaken who assert that there are no gratifications in the enjoyments of sense. Were there none, they would not be so diligently sought. Sin, which brings death to the soul, is yet sweet to the taste. The more we sin the more perverted becomes our taste, the more clamorous for further indulgence. But these stolen waters of sinful pleasure are not always sweet. Pleasant though they may be at the first, they will yet become bitter indeed. Much of the sinners peril grows out of his simple ignorance. Sin naturally brings with it temporal and physical suffering. But the pleasures of the sensualist are the preludes to a misery words refuse to paint. The sentence that to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure is fulfilled to the letter. Even the innocent pleasures of conversation become to the sensualist defiling, for he turns them into the foul channel of his own base thought. The mind and conscience of the impure are defiled. The mental faculties of the depraved and sensual lose at once and for ever the power of discerning and appreciating that which is excellent, lovely, and true. The deep things of God are no subjects for the lover of sensual sin to dwell upon. Sensuality not only prevents us from exercising our mental powers with freedom and profit, but it also wastes and enfeebles those powers themselves. Long since has this enfeebling of the intellectual man been noticed as the result of impurity of life. The sensualist must make his choice between intellect and mental imbecility. If any man defile the temple of God, which is our body, him will God destroy. This avenging work of destruction is well-nigh accomplished here on earth. Body, spirit, and soul--all is impure. But to the pure all things are pure. Unheeding the solicitations of the wanton, they go straight on their way. And this purity may be ours. Not indeed gained by our own strength, nor by any strength save that which is found at the foot of the Cross. Why may we not thus purify ourselves? To the life of purity we are called throughout the Book of Proverbs, and the cry of heavenly Wisdom is, Seek early, for the early seekers shall find. (Bp. William Stevens Perry.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Here there is a contrast stated to Pro 6:30 :

32 He who commits adultery (adulterans mulierem) is beside himself,

A self-destroyer-who does this.

33 He gains stripes and disgrace,

And his reproach is never quenched.

נאף, which primarily seems to mean excedere, to indulge in excess, is, as also in the Decalogue, cf. Lev 20:10, transitive: ὁ μοιχεύων γυναῖκα. Regarding being mad (herzlos = heartless) = amens (excors, vecors), vid., Psychologie, p. 254. משׁחית נפשׁו is he who goes to ruin with wilful perversity. A self-murderer - i.e., he intends to ruin his position and his prosperity in life - who does it, viz., this, that he touches the wife of another. It is the worst and most inextinguishable dishonouring of oneself. Singularly Behaji: who annihilates it (his soul), with reference to Deu 21:12. Eccl. 4:17, where עשׂה would be equivalent to בּטּל, καταργεῖν, which is untrue and impossible.

(Note: Behaji ought rather to have referred to Zep 3:19; Eze 7:27; Eze 22:14; but there עשׂה את means agere cum aliquo, as we say: mit jemandem abrechnen (to settle accounts with any one).)

נגע refers to the corporal punishment inflicted on the adulterer by the husband (Deu 17:8; Deu 21:5); Hitzig, who rejects Pro 6:32, refers it to the stripes which were given to the thief according to the law, but these would be called מכּה (מכּות). The punctuation נגע־וקלון is to be exchanged for קלונו נגע (Lwenstein and other good editors). מצא has a more active signification than our "finden" (to find): consequitur, τυγχάνει.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

6:32-35 A thief might be punished severely even if he had a reason for his actions, but his punishment is nothing compared to an adulterer’s, who has no excuse for his crime. A jealous husband will seek the full punishment provided by law, which is death (Deut 22:22).

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

Hebrew, faileth in heart.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

lacketh understanding--or, "heart"; destitute of moral principle and prudence.

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 32. But whoso committeth adultery] The case understood is that of a married man: he has a wife; and therefore is not in the circumstances of the poor thief, who stole to appease his hunger, having nothing to eat. In this alone the opposition between the two cases is found: the thief had no food, and he stole some; the married man had a wife, and yet went in to the wife of his neighbour.

Destroyeth his own soul.] Sins against his life, for, under the law of Moses, adultery was punished with death; Le 20:10; De 22:22.

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

32. understanding] Lit. heart. See Pro_2:2, note.

he that doeth it destroyeth] Rather, he doeth it that would destroy.

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.

A wound and dishonour shall he get,.... A wound, stroke, or blow, either from the husband of the strumpet, as was often the case (x) in later times; or from the civil magistrate, being ordered by him to be beaten (y) or stoned; or from God himself inflicting diseases on him; see Gen 12:17; where the same word is used as here: and "dishonour" from men; for though they do not despise a thief in circumstances before related, yet they will despise an adulterer, and speak reproachfully of him, whenever they have occasion to make mention of him;

and his reproach shall not be wiped away; as long as he lives, though his life may be spared; yea, it shall even continue after death; and though he may repent of his sin and reform, as in the case of David.

(x) "Secat ille cruentis verberibus", Juvenal. Satyr. 10. v. 316. Vid. A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 17. c. 18. Horat. Satyr. l. 1. Sat. 2. v. 41, 42. (y) Valer. Maximus, l. 6. c. 1. s. 13.

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

Folly. Literally, "want," inopiam. Hebrew, "is faint-hearted, corrupting his own soul, he will do that." (Haydock)

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).

Lacketh understanding; is a brutish and silly man, who madly rusheth upon these filthy courses, without any sense or consideration of the horrid shame and certain destruction which attends upon them.

Destroyeth his own soul, or life; is guilty of self-murder and of soul-murder.

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

32. Whose committeth adultery, taking all the circumstances and consequences into the account, acts like a madman or simpleton — like one who seeks to destroy his own life. Unlike the thief who steals to satisfy his hunger, he unnecessarily robs a man of his wife, and when discovered will not merely lose his property, but forfeit his life. See Lev_20:10; Deu_22:22. The argument here is a fortiori, from the less to the greater. If a thief is punished for stealing to satisfy his hunger, how much more the adulterer!

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

But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding. The adversative "but" is wanting in the original, but is clearly demanded by the contrast which is instituted. The man who steals from hunger has a motive for so doing, but the adulterer has no such excuse for his crime, which is an unwarrantable invasion of his neighbour"s rights. Because there are honest ways for satisfying his desires, he therefore "lacketh understanding." Committeth adultery with a woman; Hebrew, noeph ishshah; LXX, o moicov ; Vulgate, qui adulter est; i.e. an adulterer. The Hebrew naaph, "to commit adultery," is here followed by an accusative, as in Lev_20:10 and Jer_29:23. Lacketh understanding; Hebrew, khasar-lev; deficit corde. The verb khaser is "to be devoid of anything," "to lack." The expression, which occurs again in Pro_7:7 and Pro_9:4, refers to the brutish and stupid condition to which lust has reduced him. Lust has displaced right reason. He is expers judicii (Syriac), devoid of judgment, without intelligence, senseless and stupid. In modern phraseology, he has taken leave of his senses. Both the LXX and Vulgate have combined the two branches of this verse, the former rendering, "But the adulterer, on account of want of intelligence, compasses the loss of his life," and the latter, "But the adulterer, on account of want of intelligence, loses his life." He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul; or literally, whoso will destroy his life he will do this, i.e. adultery. So Ariae Montani, Munsterus, Chaldee Targum. The man who commits adultery is a self-murderer. The phrase, mashkith naph"sho, corrumpens animam suam, may be resolved into the concrete "a self-destroyer," as Delitzsch. The following verses seem to indicate that it is the temporal life which is referred to in nephesh, but the meaning of the term may be extended to embrace not only physical loss of life, but also moral and spiritual loss. By the Levitical Law adultery was punished by death: "The man that committeth adultery with another man"s wife ... the adulterer and adulteress shall surely be put to death". (Lev_20:10; cf. Deu_22:22Jo Deu_8:4, Deu_8:5; see also 1Th_4:6)

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

The one

"The person" or "The man"

what he deserves

"the appropriate punishment for what he has done"

his disgrace

This figure of speech is using the term "disgrace" to refer to the feeling of him acting shamefully. AT: "the memory of his shameful act" (See: Metonymy)

will not be wiped away

This figure of speech is using the negative "will not be wiped away" to refer to it always being there. AT: "will always remain" (See: Litotes)

translationWords

adultery

shame

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

One who commits adultery with a woman is devoid of sense since he does not do it because of hunger.

one who would destroy his soul—he will do it The lewd act.

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.