Proverbs 7:8

Pro 7:8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

Ver. 8. Near her corner.] Which he should have balked, according to Pro 5:8. {See Trapp on "Pro 5:8"} Men’s own inconsideration, security, and dallying with the beginnings of sin, or with the occasion, doth usually tempt the devil to tempt them; and he feeling their pulse thereby which way it beats, fits them a penny worth, provides them of mates, sets one Delilah or other to bind them, as she did Samson, with the green withes of fleshly pleasure. But let a man divorce the flesh from the world, and the devil can do him no harm.

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_7:8

He went the way to her house.

Occasions of sin

I. Many occasions of sin present themselves unlooked for.

1. All places afford temptations.

2. All times have theirs.

3. All things afford it.

4. So do all conditions, all actions, and all persons.

Therefore we need to keep a constant watch, since we are not secure in any place, time, or condition. Then suspect all things with a holy suspicion.

II. It is dangerous coming near bad houses.

1. Much danger may come from within.

2. Much danger from without; for ruffians and quarrellers haunt such places.

3. Judgment may be feared from heaven.

III. Idleness is the nurse of wantonness.

1. Because nature is corrupt, and of all sins most inclines to wantonness.

2. The soul is very active both in our waking and sleeping, and if it move us not to good it will move us to bad actions.

3. Because labour removes the rubs in the way of wantonness. Spiritual duties and labour in our vocation take the heart, eyes, and ears off from wanton objects. The heart set at liberty by idleness falls upon them with greediness.

4. Gods judgment follows idleness to give such over to wantonness. Take heed of idleness. Many think it either no sin or a light one. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)

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

her corner--where she was usually found.

went . . . house--implying, perhaps, confidence in himself by his manner, as denoted in the word

went--literally, "tread pompously."

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 8. He went the way to her house.] She appears to have had a corner house sufficiently remarkable; and a way from the main street to it.

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

(8) And he went the way . . .—The word is used of the slow step of a religious procession (2Sa_6:13), here of the sauntering of the idle youth up and down the street within view of the temptress’s house.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Passing through the street near her corner,.... The house of the harlot that stood in a corner to take in persons that came both ways; to come near which is dangerous; this was putting himself in the way of temptation; or the corner of the street where she stood to pick up young men; it could be with no good design to walk the streets in the night, and to go where harlots haunt, and where they dwell or stand; or, however, it was exposing himself to danger, and, had he took the wise man's advice, would not have done it, Pro 5:8; we should abstain from all appearance of evil, and from everything that leads to sin; and as to immorality and uncleanness, so to false doctrine and false worship; the synagogues of Satan and Popish chapels should be avoided;

and he went the way to her house; that led directly to her house, which shows a bad intention; and if his design was not to commit fornication, yet to gratify his lusts by looks, dalliances, and impure discourse with her; and hither he went in a set, stately manner, as the word (f) signifies; with an air pleasing to the harlot, as a beau and fop of the town; and by which air and gait he was known by her to be a proper person to attack.

(f) "intelligitur incessus, compositus et pomposus", Piscator; "magnis et patheticis possibus", Michaelis; "est aliquid grande et audax in verbo", Schultens.

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

Passing through the street; idle and careless.

Near her corner; near the corner of the street in which her house stood; such places being most convenient for that wicked purpose, as giving opportunity either for the discovery of passengers in several streets, or for the escape of such as might be in danger of being taken in her house. Compare Pro 7:12.

He went the way to her house; not with intention to act gross filthiness with her, as may be gathered from the following passages, but to gratify his curiosity, and to understand the manner of such persons, and to please himself with the sight of her, or discourse of her.

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

8. Street — “Back street.” — Miller.

Near her corner — Where she dwelt. Zockler, “near a corner.”

To (or, toward) her house — He was sauntering along towards her house.

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

Near her corner. He kept near the corner of the house of the woman for whom he waited. Another reading gives, "near a corner;" juxta angulum. Vulgate; para gwnian , Septuagint; i.e. he did not take to the broad, open street, but sneaked about at corners, whence he could watch the woman"s house without being observed by others. He went the way to her house. He sauntered slowly along, as the verb signifies. Septuagint, "Passing by a corner in the passages of her house (en diodoiv oikwn authv )."

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

Passing - Idle and careless, near the corner of the street in which her house stood.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Now follows, whither he saw the young fop [Laffen] then go in the darkness.

8 Going up and down the street near her corner,

And he walked along the way to her house,

9 In the twilight, when the day declined,

In the midst of the night and deep darkness.

We may interpret עבר as appos.: juvenem amentem, ambulantem, or as the predicate accus.: vidi juvenem ... ambulantem; for that one may so express himself in Hebrew (cf. e.g., Isa 6:1; Dan 8:7), Hitzig unwarrantably denies. The passing over of the part. into the finite, 8b, is like Pro 2:14, Pro 2:17, and that of the inf. Pro 1:27; Pro 2:8. שׁוּק, Arab. suk (dimin. suweiḳa, to separate, from sikkat, street, alley), still means, as in former times, a broad street, a principal street, as well as an open place, a market-place where business is transacted, or according to its etymon: where cattle are driven for sale. On the street he went backwards and forwards, yet so that he kept near to her corner (i.e., of the woman whom he waited for), i.e., he never withdrew himself far from the corner of her house, and always again returned to it. The corner is named, because from that place he could always cast a look over the front of the house to see whether she whom he waited for showed herself. Regarding פּנּהּ for פּנּתהּ, vid., at Psa 27:5 : a primary form פּן has never been in use; פּנּים, Zac 14:10, is plur. of פּנּהּ. אצל (from אצל, Arab. wasl, to bind) is, as a substantive, the side (as the place where one thing connects itself with another), and thus as a preposition it means (like juxta from jungere) beside, Ital. allato. דּרכו is the object. accus., for thus are construed verbs eundi (e.g., Hab 3:12, Num. 30:17, cf. Pro 21:22).

Pro 7:9

The designations of time give the impression of progress to a climax; for Hitzig unwarrantably denies that נשׁף means the twilight; the Talmud, Berachoth 3b, correctly distinguishes תרי נשׁפי two twilights, the evening and the morning twilight. But the idea is not limited to this narrow sense, and does not need this, since the root-word נשׁף (vid., at Isa 40:24) permits the extension of the idea to the whole of the cool half (evening and night) of the entire day; cf. the parallel of the adulterer who veils himself by the darkness of the night and by a mask on his countenance, Job 24:15 with Jer 13:16. However, the first group of synonyms, בּנשׁף בּערב יום (with the Cod. Frankf. 1294, to be thus punctuated), as against the second, appears to denote an earlier period of the second half of the day; for if one reads, with Hitzig, בּערב יום (after Jdg 19:9), the meaning remains the same as with בּערב יום, viz., advesperascente die (Jerome), for ערב = Arab. gharab, means to go away, and particularly to go under, of the sun, and thus to become evening. He saw the youth in the twilight, as the day had declined (κέκλικεν, Luk 24:29), going backwards and forwards; and when the darkness of night had reached its middle, or its highest point, he was still in his lurking-place. אישׁון לילה, apple of the eye of the night, is, like the Pers. dili scheb, heart of the night, the poetic designation of the middle of the night. Gusset incorrectly: crepusculum in quo sicut in oculi pupilla est nigredo sublustris et quasi mistura lucis ac tenebrarum. אישׁון is, as elsewhere לב, particularly the middle; the application to the night was specially suitable, since the apple of the eye is the black part in the white of the eye (Hitzig). It is to be translated according to the accus., in pupilla noctis et caligine (not caliginis); and this was probably the meaning of the poet, for a ב is obviously to be supplied to ואפלה.

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.)

her corner

Here "her" refers to any female stranger, as referred to in Proverbs 07:05. She was standing at a certain corner, waiting for a suitable man to pass by. AT: "the corner where a female stranger was standing"

corner

This refers to where two roads meet.

twilight

the time of day when it is getting darker and about to become night

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

next to her corner The corner of the harlot and of the pagan house of worship.

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.