Proverbs 20:17(v17)Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.
Proverbs 23:31-32(v17)Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a snake, and…
Proverbs 30:20(v17)“So is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
James 1:14-15(v17)But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when…
Genesis 3:6(v17)When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one…
Show all 15 cross-references
2 Kings 5:24-27(v17)When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and stored them in the house. Then he let the men go, and they departed. But he…
Proverbs 7:18-20(v17)Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving. For my husband isn’t at home. He has gone on a…
Proverbs 7:25-27(v15)Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths, for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty…
Proverbs 9:3(v14)She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city:
Proverbs 23:27-28(v15)For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well. Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful…
Romans 7:8(v17)But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
Ephesians 5:12(v17)For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
Proverbs 7:10-12(v14)Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent. She is loud and defiant. Her feet don’t stay in her…
Proverbs 7:13-15(v15)So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him: “Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my…
Proverbs 9:4(v16)“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv14–17Pro 9:14 For she sitteth at the door of…
Pro 9:14 For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,
Ver. 14. For she sitteth at the door.] In a harlot’s habit, to see and be seen; the guise and garb of harlots. Cicero wittily compareth the Greek tongue to an ambitious strumpet, quae multo luxu superfluat, which overlasheth in too much bravery; but the Latin tongue to an honest and modest matron, cui nihil deest quod ad honestum pertineat mundiciem, that wants nothing pertaining to a necessary neatness. Such a like comparison between wisdom and folly is here made by Solomon.
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.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv14–17Which notes her idleness and impudence, and diligence in…
Which notes her idleness and impudence, and diligence in watching for occasions of sin.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv14–17For she sitteth at the door of her house,…
For she sitteth at the door of her house, Idle and inactive, looking out for her prey; not active and laborious, as Wisdom, building her house, killing her beasts, furnishing her table, and sending out her maidens to call in her guests; but exposing herself in the most public manner, and being at the utmost ease, sitting as a queen; see Rev 18:7; and as it follows,
on a seat, or "throne" (p); the same seat, or throne, power, and authority, which the dragon gave to the beast, or antichrist, placed at Rome, where this woman reigns; see Rev 13:2;
Read full note →
in the high places of the city; the city of Rome, and its jurisdiction, the high places of which are their temples, or churches; where this foolish woman is noisy and clamorous, proclaims her folly, and endeavours to seduce and raw persons to her superstition and idolatry. "Merome", the word for "high places", has some affinity with Rome, and comes from the same root (q).
(p) "super solium", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; "super solio", Piscator, Michaelis, Schultens; "in thronum", Cocceius. (q) From "altus"; hence that of Virgil--"altae moenia Romae", Aeneid. l. 1. v. 7.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv14–17At the door - Watching for occasions of sin.
At the door - Watching for occasions of sin.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv14, 16, 17Verse 14. For she sitteth at the door of…
Verse 14. For she sitteth at the door of her house] Her conduct here marks at once her folly, impudence, and poverty. See above on Pr 7:6, &c., where the reader will find a similar character.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv14, 16Pro 9:14-15. She sitteth at the door of her…
Pro 9:14-15. She sitteth at the door of her house — Which denotes her idleness and impudence, and her diligence in watching for occasions of sin. To call passengers — Who were going innocently and directly about their own business, without any unchaste design.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv14, 17Contrast with Pro 9:1, etc. The foolish woman has…
Contrast with Pro 9:1, etc. The foolish woman has her house, but it is no stately palace with seven pillars, like the home of Wisdom. No train of maidens wait on her, and invite her guests, but she herself sits at the door, her position as prominent as that of Wisdom, counterfeiting her voice, making the same offer to the same class (compare Pro 9:16 with Pro 9:4).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn v17Pleasant. Impure pleasures are more delightful (Calmet) to sensual…
Pleasant. Impure pleasures are more delightful (Calmet) to sensual men. (Haydock) --- The prohibition increases appetite. (Menochius)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv14, 15, 17on a seat--literally, "throne," takes a prominent place, impudently…
on a seat--literally, "throne," takes a prominent place, impudently and haughtily.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv15–1715. To call passengers — This is her object,…
15. To call passengers — This is her object, to draw even those aside into her haunts of folly and impurity who are going straight forward to the school of wisdom and virtue. She is, in this respect, a fair representative of the modern “saloon keeper.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv15, 1715. who go right on their ways] who are…
15. who go right on their ways] who are not putting themselves in the way of temptation by loitering or straying into by-ways, but who, though in the path of duty, are unwary and unsuspecting, and so need warning.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv14, 16, 17(14) She sitteth at the door of her house.—She…
(14) She sitteth at the door of her house.—She does not care, like Wisdom, to send forth her maidens “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luk_19:10); she contents herself with sitting at ease, just outside her own door, and calling to the passers-by.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv14–17She sitteth at the door of her house. She,…
She sitteth at the door of her house. She, like Wisdom, has a house of her own, and imitates her in inviting guests to enter. She does not send forth her maidens; she does not stand in the streets and proclaim her mission. Vice has an easier task; all she has to do is to sit and beckon and use a few seductive words. Her house is not supported by seven pillars, built on the grace of God and upheld by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. like that of Wisdom (ver. 1); it is an ordinary habitation of no stately proportions. but its meanness impedes not the uses to which she puts it, her own charms causing her victims to disregard her environments. On a seat in the high pluses of the city. Her house is in the highest and most conspicuous part of the city, and she sits before her door in reckless immodesty, plying her shameful trade. (comp. Gen_38:14 Jer_3:2) The mimicry of her rival again appears, for Wisdom "crieth upon the highest places of the city" (ver. 3).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv14, 15, 17For she sitteth at the door of her house.
Pro_9:14
For she sitteth at the door of her house.
Read full note →
The ministry of temptation
I. As conducted by depraved woman. A foolish woman is here the emblem of wickedness in the world.
1. She is ignorant. Blind to spiritual realities and claims. She is in the kingdom of darkness.
2. She is clamorous. Full of noise and excitement; bearing down all objections to her entreaties.
3. She is audacious. Modesty, which is the glory of a womans nature, has left her.
4. She is persuasive. She admits that her pleasures are wrong, and on that account more delectable.
II. As directed to the inexperienced in life. To whom does she especially direct her entreaties? Not to the mature saint stalwart in virtue. She calls passengers, the simple ones.
III. As tending to a most miserable destination. The ministry of temptation is very successful as conducted by depraved woman.
1. This woman obtained guests.
2. Her guests were ruined.
3. Her guests were ruined contrary to their intention. (Homilist.)
The pleasures of sin
One of the foul spirits that assail and possess men is singled out and delineated, and this one represents a legion in the background. This is no fancy picture. It is drawn from life. The plague is as rampant in our streets as it is represented to be in the Proverbs. Mankind have sat for the picture: there is no mistake in the outline, there is no exaggeration in the colouring. Let no youth ever once, or for a moment, go where he would be ashamed to be found by his father and his mother. This woman is the figure of all evil--the devil, the world, the flesh, whatever form they may assume and whatever weapons they may employ. The one evil spirit, dragged forth from the legion and exposed, is intended not to conceal, but to open up the generic character of the company. In this life every human being is placed between two rival invitations, and every human being in this life yields to the one or to the other. The power of sin lies in its pleasure. If stolen waters were not sweet, none would steal the waters. This is part of the mystery in which our being is involved by the fall. Our appetite is diseased. In man fallen there is a diseased relish for that which destroys. There is an appetite in our nature which finds sweetness in sin. And the appetite grows by what it feeds on. It is only in the mouth that the stolen water is sweet; afterwards it is bitter. One part of the youths danger lies in his ignorance: He knoweth not that the dead are there. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v16is naive
is naive
"is inexperienced or immature"
Read full note →
turn aside here
"leave his path and come here"
she says
This is the foolish woman who was introduced in Proverbs 9:13.
those who have no sense
"those who do not have wisdom" or "those who are not wise"
Stolen waters are sweet, and bread of secrecy is delicious
The foolish woman speaks of the pleasure of stolen waters and bread of secrecy to tell men that if they sleep with her, they will have pleasure. This can be stated clearly in a simile: "You can enjoy me just as you enjoy water that you have stolen or bread that is secret" (See: Metaphor)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv14, 179:14 On the heights overlooking the city was the…
9:14 On the heights overlooking the city was the traditional location for a temple. Folly personifies false gods and goddesses that compete for the affection and loyalty of God’s people (contrast 9:2-3).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14–17 Pro 9:14 For she sitteth at the door of…
Pro 9:14 For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,
Ver. 14. For she sitteth at the door.] In a harlot’s habit, to see and be seen; the guise and garb of harlots. Cicero wittily compareth the Greek tongue to an ambitious strumpet, quae multo luxu superfluat, which overlasheth in too much bravery; but the Latin tongue to an honest and modest matron, cui nihil deest quod ad honestum pertineat mundiciem, that wants nothing pertaining to a necessary neatness. Such a like comparison between wisdom and folly is here made by Solomon.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv14–17 Which notes her idleness and impudence, and diligence in…
Which notes her idleness and impudence, and diligence in watching for occasions of sin.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv14–17 For she sitteth at the door of her house,…
For she sitteth at the door of her house, Idle and inactive, looking out for her prey; not active and laborious, as Wisdom, building her house, killing her beasts, furnishing her table, and sending out her maidens to call in her guests; but exposing herself in the most public manner, and being at the utmost ease, sitting as a queen; see Rev 18:7; and as it follows,
on a seat, or "throne" (p); the same seat, or throne, power, and authority, which the dragon gave to the beast, or antichrist, placed at Rome, where this woman reigns; see Rev 13:2;
Read full note →
in the high places of the city; the city of Rome, and its jurisdiction, the high places of which are their temples, or churches; where this foolish woman is noisy and clamorous, proclaims her folly, and endeavours to seduce and raw persons to her superstition and idolatry. "Merome", the word for "high places", has some affinity with Rome, and comes from the same root (q).
(p) "super solium", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; "super solio", Piscator, Michaelis, Schultens; "in thronum", Cocceius. (q) From "altus"; hence that of Virgil--"altae moenia Romae", Aeneid. l. 1. v. 7.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv14–17 At the door - Watching for occasions of sin.
At the door - Watching for occasions of sin.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17 Verse 14. For she sitteth at the door of…
Verse 14. For she sitteth at the door of her house] Her conduct here marks at once her folly, impudence, and poverty. See above on Pr 7:6, &c., where the reader will find a similar character.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv14, 16 Pro 9:14-15. She sitteth at the door of her…
Pro 9:14-15. She sitteth at the door of her house — Which denotes her idleness and impudence, and her diligence in watching for occasions of sin. To call passengers — Who were going innocently and directly about their own business, without any unchaste design.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv14, 17 Contrast with Pro 9:1, etc. The foolish woman has…
Contrast with Pro 9:1, etc. The foolish woman has her house, but it is no stately palace with seven pillars, like the home of Wisdom. No train of maidens wait on her, and invite her guests, but she herself sits at the door, her position as prominent as that of Wisdom, counterfeiting her voice, making the same offer to the same class (compare Pro 9:16 with Pro 9:4).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v17 Pleasant. Impure pleasures are more delightful (Calmet) to sensual…
Pleasant. Impure pleasures are more delightful (Calmet) to sensual men. (Haydock) --- The prohibition increases appetite. (Menochius)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 17 on a seat--literally, "throne," takes a prominent place, impudently…
on a seat--literally, "throne," takes a prominent place, impudently and haughtily.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv15–17 15. To call passengers — This is her object,…
15. To call passengers — This is her object, to draw even those aside into her haunts of folly and impurity who are going straight forward to the school of wisdom and virtue. She is, in this respect, a fair representative of the modern “saloon keeper.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv15, 17 15. who go right on their ways] who are…
15. who go right on their ways] who are not putting themselves in the way of temptation by loitering or straying into by-ways, but who, though in the path of duty, are unwary and unsuspecting, and so need warning.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17 (14) She sitteth at the door of her house.—She…
(14) She sitteth at the door of her house.—She does not care, like Wisdom, to send forth her maidens “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luk_19:10); she contents herself with sitting at ease, just outside her own door, and calling to the passers-by.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv14–17 She sitteth at the door of her house. She,…
She sitteth at the door of her house. She, like Wisdom, has a house of her own, and imitates her in inviting guests to enter. She does not send forth her maidens; she does not stand in the streets and proclaim her mission. Vice has an easier task; all she has to do is to sit and beckon and use a few seductive words. Her house is not supported by seven pillars, built on the grace of God and upheld by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. like that of Wisdom (ver. 1); it is an ordinary habitation of no stately proportions. but its meanness impedes not the uses to which she puts it, her own charms causing her victims to disregard her environments. On a seat in the high pluses of the city. Her house is in the highest and most conspicuous part of the city, and she sits before her door in reckless immodesty, plying her shameful trade. (comp. Gen_38:14 Jer_3:2) The mimicry of her rival again appears, for Wisdom "crieth upon the highest places of the city" (ver. 3).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 17 For she sitteth at the door of her house.
Pro_9:14
For she sitteth at the door of her house.
Read full note →
The ministry of temptation
I. As conducted by depraved woman. A foolish woman is here the emblem of wickedness in the world.
1. She is ignorant. Blind to spiritual realities and claims. She is in the kingdom of darkness.
2. She is clamorous. Full of noise and excitement; bearing down all objections to her entreaties.
3. She is audacious. Modesty, which is the glory of a womans nature, has left her.
4. She is persuasive. She admits that her pleasures are wrong, and on that account more delectable.
II. As directed to the inexperienced in life. To whom does she especially direct her entreaties? Not to the mature saint stalwart in virtue. She calls passengers, the simple ones.
III. As tending to a most miserable destination. The ministry of temptation is very successful as conducted by depraved woman.
1. This woman obtained guests.
2. Her guests were ruined.
3. Her guests were ruined contrary to their intention. (Homilist.)
The pleasures of sin
One of the foul spirits that assail and possess men is singled out and delineated, and this one represents a legion in the background. This is no fancy picture. It is drawn from life. The plague is as rampant in our streets as it is represented to be in the Proverbs. Mankind have sat for the picture: there is no mistake in the outline, there is no exaggeration in the colouring. Let no youth ever once, or for a moment, go where he would be ashamed to be found by his father and his mother. This woman is the figure of all evil--the devil, the world, the flesh, whatever form they may assume and whatever weapons they may employ. The one evil spirit, dragged forth from the legion and exposed, is intended not to conceal, but to open up the generic character of the company. In this life every human being is placed between two rival invitations, and every human being in this life yields to the one or to the other. The power of sin lies in its pleasure. If stolen waters were not sweet, none would steal the waters. This is part of the mystery in which our being is involved by the fall. Our appetite is diseased. In man fallen there is a diseased relish for that which destroys. There is an appetite in our nature which finds sweetness in sin. And the appetite grows by what it feeds on. It is only in the mouth that the stolen water is sweet; afterwards it is bitter. One part of the youths danger lies in his ignorance: He knoweth not that the dead are there. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v16 is naive
is naive
"is inexperienced or immature"
Read full note →
turn aside here
"leave his path and come here"
she says
This is the foolish woman who was introduced in Proverbs 9:13.
those who have no sense
"those who do not have wisdom" or "those who are not wise"
Stolen waters are sweet, and bread of secrecy is delicious
The foolish woman speaks of the pleasure of stolen waters and bread of secrecy to tell men that if they sleep with her, they will have pleasure. This can be stated clearly in a simile: "You can enjoy me just as you enjoy water that you have stolen or bread that is secret" (See: Metaphor)
that the dead are there
"that the men who have gone to her are now dead"
in the depths of Sheol
"Sheol" refers to the world of the dead.
translationWords
die
Hades
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 17 9:14 On the heights overlooking the city was the…
9:14 On the heights overlooking the city was the traditional location for a temple. Folly personifies false gods and goddesses that compete for the affection and loyalty of God’s people (contrast 9:2-3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.