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The danger of it, <span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/6-2.htm" title="You are snared with the words of your mouth, you are taken with the words of your mouth.">Proverbs 6:2</a></span>; and the way of delivery, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/proverbs/6-3.htm" title="Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, when you are come into the hand of your friend; go, humble yourself, and make sure your friend....">Proverbs 6:3-5</a></span>. Sluggards reproved by a similitude of the ant, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/proverbs/6-6.htm" title="Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:...">Proverbs 6:6-11</a></span>. The carriage of the wicked described, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/proverbs/6-12.htm" title="A naughty person, a wicked man, walks with a fraudulent mouth....">Proverbs 6:12-14</a></span>; and his sudden ruin, <span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/6-15.htm" title="Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.">Proverbs 6:15</a></span>. Of seven things which are displeasing to God, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/proverbs/6-16.htm" title="These six things does the LORD hate: yes, seven are an abomination to him:...">Proverbs 6:16-19</a></span>. The benefits of keeping the commandments, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/proverbs/6-20.htm" title="My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not the law of your mother:...">Proverbs 6:20-24</a></span>. The mischief of adultery, <span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/6-25.htm" title="Lust not after her beauty in your heart; neither let her take you with her eyelids.">Proverbs 6:25</a></span>. Its evil consequences, <span class="bld"><a href="/context/proverbs/6-26.htm" title="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....">Proverbs 6:26-35</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="bld">Surety, </span> to wit, rashly, without considering for whom or how far thou dost oblige thyself, or how thou shalt discharge the debt, if occasion require it. Otherwise suretiship in some cases may be not only lawful, but an act of justice, and prudence, and charity. See <span class="bld"><a href="/genesis/42-37.htm" title="And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to you: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to you again.">Genesis 42:37</a> 43:9 <a href="/philemon/1-19.htm" title="I Paul have written it with my own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to you how you owe to me even your own self besides.">Philemon 1:19</a></span>. Or, <span class="ital">to</span> (as this prefix most commonly signifies) <span class="ital">a friend. Stricken thy hand</span>; obliged thyself by giving thy hand, or joining thy hands with another man’s, as the custom then was in such cases; of which see <span class="bld"><a href="/job/17-3.htm" title="Lay down now, put me in a surety with you; who is he that will strike hands with me?">Job 17:3</a> <a href="/proverbs/17-18.htm" title="A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes surety in the presence of his friend.">Proverbs 17:18</a> 22:26</span>. <span class="ital">With a stranger</span>; with the creditor, whom he calls a stranger, because the usurers in Israel, who lent money to others for their necessary occasions, upon condition of paying use for it, were either heathens, or were reputed as bad as heathens, because this practice was forbidden by God’s law, <span class="bld"><a href="/deuteronomy/23-9.htm" title="When the host goes forth against your enemies, then keep you from every wicked thing.">Deu 23:9</a></span>. Or, <span class="ital">to</span> or <span class="ital">for a stranger</span>; for here is the same prefix which is rendered for in the former clause. And so he may imply, that whether a man be surety to or for a friend, or to or for a stranger, the case and course to be used is much of the same kind. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-2.htm">Proverbs 6:2</a></div><div class="verse">Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.</div> Thy freedom is lost, and thou art now in bondage to another. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-3.htm">Proverbs 6:3</a></div><div class="verse">Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.</div> <span class="bld">Into the hand; </span> into the power. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Of thy friend; </span> either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. Of the creditor, who possibly may be also thy friend; yet take the following course with him, and much more if he be a stranger. Or, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Of the debtor, for whom, as being thy friend, thou didst become surety; whereby thou art not only in the creditor’s power to exact payment, but also in the debtor’s power, by his neglect or unfaithfulness, to expose thee to the payment of the debt. And this may seem best to agree both with <span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/6-1.htm" title="My son, if you be surety for your friend, if you have stricken your hand with a stranger,">Proverbs 6:1</a></span>, where <span class="ital">friend</span> is taken in that sense, and is distinguished from the creditor, who is called <span class="ital">a stranger</span>, and with the words here following; for this <span class="ital">humbling of himself</span> was not likely to have much power with a stranger and a griping usurer; but it might probably prevail with his friend, either to take effectual care to pay the debt, or at least to discharge him from the obligation, or to secure him against it some other way. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Humble thyself, </span> Heb. <span class="ital">offer thyself to be trodden upon</span>, or <span class="ital">throw thyself down at his feet</span>. As thou hast made thyself his servant, bear the fruits of thine own folly, and humbly and earnestly implore his patience and clemency. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">And make sure thy friend; </span> or, <span class="ital">and prevail with thy friend</span>; strive to win him by thine incessant and earnest solicitations. Or, <span class="ital">honour</span> or <span class="ital">magnify thy friend</span>, which is fitly and properly opposed to, and indeed is in some good measure done by, the humbling a man’s self before him. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-4.htm">Proverbs 6:4</a></div><div class="verse">Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.</div> To wit, until thou hast taken care for the discharge of this obligation. Be not secure, nor negligent, nor dilatory in this matter. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-5.htm">Proverbs 6:5</a></div><div class="verse">Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand <i>of the hunter</i>, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.</div> With all possible expedition, as the roe runs swiftly away. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-6.htm">Proverbs 6:6</a></div><div class="verse">Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:</div> This is another distinct precept; and it is for the most part as needless to seek, as hard to find, coherence in the proverbs and counsels of this book. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Her ways; </span> her actions and manner of living, especially her diligence and providence, which are the things commended in her, <span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/6-7.htm" title="Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,">Proverbs 6:7</a>,8</span>; of which naturalists give many instances, as that the ants watch the fittest seasons for all things, that they provide most plentifully against the time of famine, that they never hinder, but always assist, one another in their work, and unite their force together to carry away such things as are too large or heavy for one of them; that they prepare fit cells or repositories for their corn in the ground, and such as the rain cannot easily reach; and if through excessive rain their corn be wet, they bring it forth to be dried; that they bite off the ends of the grains of corn that they may not grow, &c. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-7.htm">Proverbs 6:7</a></div><div class="verse">Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,</div> Which might direct them in or quicken them to the work, as the bees have their kings, and many other creatures have their leaders. This heightens their commendation. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-8.htm">Proverbs 6:8</a></div><div class="verse">Provideth her meat in the summer, <i>and</i> gathereth her food in the harvest.</div> When they come forth in great numbers, as in winter they stir not out of their holes. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-9.htm">Proverbs 6:9</a></div><div class="verse">How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?</div> <span class="bld">How long wilt thou sleep?</span> when the ants are watchful and labour, not only in the day time, but even by night, when the moon shineth. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-10.htm">Proverbs 6:10</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Yet</i> a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:</div> This he speaks in the person of the sluggard, refusing to arise, and requiring more sleep, that so he might express the disposition and common practice of such persons. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Folding of the hands</span> is the gesture of men composing themselves to sleep. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-11.htm">Proverbs 6:11</a></div><div class="verse">So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.</div> <span class="bld">As one that travaileth, </span> swiftly and unexpectedly. As an armed man, irresistibly or unavoidably. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-12.htm">Proverbs 6:12</a></div><div class="verse">A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.</div> He showeth the haughtiness of his heart by the wickedness of his talk and discourses, to which he doth accustom himself, as walking implies. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-13.htm">Proverbs 6:13</a></div><div class="verse">He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;</div> He vents his wickedness, as by his speech, so also by his gestures, whereby he secretly signifies what he is afraid or ashamed to express openly to his accomplices, his intentions or desires of some evil towards another person; which having in the general declared by the motion of his eyes or feet, he points out the particular person by his fingers. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-14.htm">Proverbs 6:14</a></div><div class="verse">Frowardness <i>is</i> in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.</div> <span class="bld">Frowardness; </span> perverse or wicked thoughts and desires. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">He soweth discord; </span> either out of malice against others, or out of a base design of improving it to his own advantage. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-15.htm">Proverbs 6:15</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.</div> Heb. <span class="ital">and there</span> shall be <span class="ital">no healing</span>; no prevention of it beforehand, nor recovery afterward. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-16.htm">Proverbs 6:16</a></div><div class="verse">These six <i>things</i> doth the LORD hate: yea, seven <i>are</i> an abomination unto him:</div> <span class="bld">Hate, </span> to wit, above many other sins, which have a worse name in the world. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-17.htm">Proverbs 6:17</a></div><div class="verse">A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,</div> <span class="bld">A proud look; </span> pride of heart, which commonly discovers itself by a man’s looks and gestures. See <span class="bld"><a href="/psalms/101-5.htm" title="Whoever privately slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that has an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.">Psalm 101:5</a> 131:1 <a href="/proverbs/30-13.htm" title="There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.">Proverbs 30:13</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">A lying tongue; </span> he that accustometh himself to lying and deceit in his common conversation. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-18.htm">Proverbs 6:18</a></div><div class="verse">An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,</div> <span class="bld">An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations; </span> he whose practice it is to design and contrive wickedness. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Feet that be swift in running to mischief; </span> such as greedily and readily execute their wicked designs, without any restraint or delay. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-19.htm">Proverbs 6:19</a></div><div class="verse">A false witness <i>that</i> speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.</div> <span class="bld">That speaketh lies, </span> to wit, in judgment; whereby this differs from the former lying, <span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/6-17.htm" title="A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,">Proverbs 6:17</a></span>. <span class="ital">Brethren</span>; dear relations or friends. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-20.htm">Proverbs 6:20</a></div><div class="verse">My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:</div> <span class="bld">Keep thy father’s commandment, </span> so far as it is not contrary to God’s command. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Forsake not the law of thy mother, </span> whom children are too apt to despise. See <span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/1-8.htm" title="My son, hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother:">Proverbs 1:8</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-21.htm">Proverbs 6:21</a></div><div class="verse">Bind them continually upon thine heart, <i>and</i> tie them about thy neck.</div> <span class="bld">Bind them continually upon thine heart; </span> constantly remember and duly consider them. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Tie them about thy neck:</span> see on <span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/1-9.htm" title="For they shall be an ornament of grace to your head, and chains about your neck.">Proverbs 1:9</a> 3:3</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-22.htm">Proverbs 6:22</a></div><div class="verse">When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and <i>when</i> thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.</div> <span class="bld">It, </span> the law of God, which thy parents have taught thee, and pressed upon thee, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">shall lead thee; </span> direct thee how to order all thy steps and actions. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">It shall talk with thee; </span> it shall give thee counsel and comfort. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="23"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-23.htm">Proverbs 6:23</a></div><div class="verse">For the commandment <i>is</i> a lamp; and the law <i>is</i> light; and reproofs of instruction <i>are</i> the way of life:</div> <span class="bld">Is a lamp; </span> it enlightens thy dark mind, and clearly discovers to thee the plain and right way. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Reproofs of instruction; </span> wise and instructive reproofs or admonitions. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">The way to life; </span> both to preserve and prolong this life, and to procure eternal life to those that obey them. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="24"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-24.htm">Proverbs 6:24</a></div><div class="verse">To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.</div> This is mentioned as a great commendation of God’s word, because neither worldly discretion, nor civil education, nor moral precepts, nor any other considerations, are sufficient preservatives against this lust, as is manifest from daily experience. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="25"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-25.htm">Proverbs 6:25</a></div><div class="verse">Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.</div> <span class="bld">Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; </span> do not give way to, nor delight thyself with, unchaste thoughts or affections. Compare <span class="bld"><a href="/matthew/5-28.htm" title="But I say to you, That whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.">Matthew 5:28</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">With her eyelids; </span> either with her beauty, which consists much in the eyes; or rather, with her amours and wanton glances. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="26"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-26.htm">Proverbs 6:26</a></div><div class="verse">For by means of a whorish woman <i>a man is brought</i> to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.</div> <span class="bld">To a piece of bread; </span> to extreme poverty, so as to want and be forced to beg his bread. <span class="ital">Hunt for the precious life</span>; 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, <span class="ital">for the precious soul</span>, which she corrupteth and destroyeth. But I prefer the former sense. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="27"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-27.htm">Proverbs 6:27</a></div><div class="verse">Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?</div> The question implies a denial; he cannot escape burning. No more can he who burns in lust avoid destruction. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="28"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-28.htm">Proverbs 6:28</a></div><div class="verse">Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="29"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-29.htm">Proverbs 6:29</a></div><div class="verse">So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.</div> <span class="bld">That goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; </span> that lieth with her, as the phrase signifies, <span class="bld"><a href="/genesis/19-31.htm" title="And the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth:">Genesis 19:31</a> 29:21,23</span>, &c. <span class="ital">Toucheth her</span>, i.e. hath carnal knowledge of her, as this word is used, <span class="bld"><a href="/genesis/20-6.htm" title="And God said to him in a dream, Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; for I also withheld you from sinning against me: therefore suffered I you not to touch her.">Genesis 20:6</a> <a href="/1_corinthians/7-1.htm" title="Now concerning the things whereof you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.">1 Corinthians 7:1</a></span>, and in Terence, and other writers. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Shall not be innocent; </span> shall be punished as a malefactor, either by God or man. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="30"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-30.htm">Proverbs 6:30</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Men</i> do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;</div> <span class="bld">Despise, </span> i.e. abhor or reproach him, but rather pity and pardon him, who is urged by mere necessity to these practices. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="31"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-31.htm">Proverbs 6:31</a></div><div class="verse">But <i>if</i> he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.</div> <span class="bld">He shall restore seven-fold.</span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Quest.</span> How doth this agree with God’s law, which required only that he should restore double, or at most fourfold, or fivefold? <span class="bld"><a href="/exodus/22-1.htm" title="If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.">Exodus 22:1</a>:4</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Answ.</span> 1. The number of <span class="ital">seven</span> may be here put indefinitely for many times, as it is <span class="bld"><a href="/genesis/4-24.htm" title="If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.">Genesis 4:24</a> <a href="/leviticus/26-28.htm" title="Then I will walk contrary to you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.">Leviticus 26:28</a></span>, and in many other places. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Some think that as thefts were multiplied, so the punishment of it was increased, in Solomon’s time; or, at least, that it was the practice of some nations to require this sevenfold restitution. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>3. He speaks not of that restitution which the law required, but of that which either the wronged person being potent might force the thief to make, or which the thief would willingly give rather than be exposed to public shame; as appears by the following clause, wherein he adds to this sevenfold restitution <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">all his substance, </span> which no law of God or man required. <span class="bld">See Poole "<a href="/exodus/22-4.htm" title="If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.">Exodus 22:4</a>"</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="32"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-32.htm">Proverbs 6:32</a></div><div class="verse"><i>But</i> whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he <i>that</i> doeth it destroyeth his own soul.</div> <span class="bld">Lacketh understanding; </span> 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. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Destroyeth his own soul, </span> or <span class="ital">life</span>; is guilty of self-murder and of soul-murder. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="33"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-33.htm">Proverbs 6:33</a></div><div class="verse">A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.</div> <span class="bld">A wound; </span> civil or corporal punishment from the magistrate, or rather from the woman’s husband, as it follows. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">His reproach shall not be wiped away; </span> although it be forgiven by God, yet the reproach and scandal of it remains. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="34"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-34.htm">Proverbs 6:34</a></div><div class="verse">For jealousy <i>is</i> the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.</div> <span class="bld">Is the rage of a man; </span> it inflames a man with rage and fury against the adulterer. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">In the day of vengeance; </span> when he hath an opportunity to avenge himself upon the delinquent. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="35"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/6-35.htm">Proverbs 6:35</a></div><div class="verse">He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.</div> He will accept of no other recompence for the injury beneath thy life. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Matthew Poole's Commentary<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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