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id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="/proverbs/5-13.htm" title="Proverbs 5:13">◄</a> Proverbs 5:14 <a href="/proverbs/5-15.htm" title="Proverbs 5:15">►</a></div></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse"> <a href="#study" class="clickchap2" title="Context and Study Bible"> Audio </a> <a href="#crossref" class="clickchap2" title="Cross References"> Crossref </a> <a href="#commentary" class="clickchap2" title="Commentary"> Comm </a> <a href="#lexicon" class="clickchap2" title="Lexicon"> Hebrew </a> </div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheadingv"><b>Verse</b><a href="/bsb/proverbs/5.htm" class="clickchap" style="color:#001320" title="Click any translation name for full chapter">  (Click for Chapter)</a></div><div id="par"><span class="versiontext"><a href="/niv/proverbs/5.htm">New International Version</a></span><br />And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God&#8217s people.&#8221<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nlt/proverbs/5.htm">New Living Translation</a></span><br />I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/esv/proverbs/5.htm">English Standard Version</a></span><br />I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/bsb/proverbs/5.htm">Berean Standard Bible</a></span><br />I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/kjv/proverbs/5.htm">King James Bible</a></span><br />I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nkjv/proverbs/5.htm">New King James Version</a></span><br />I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb_/proverbs/5.htm">New American Standard Bible</a></span><br />“I was almost in total ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb/proverbs/5.htm">NASB 1995</a></span><br />&#8220I was almost in utter ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.&#8221<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nasb77/proverbs/5.htm">NASB 1977 </a></span><br />“I was almost in utter ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lsb/proverbs/5.htm">Legacy Standard Bible </a></span><br />I was almost in utter ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/amp/proverbs/5.htm">Amplified Bible</a></span><br />“I was almost in total ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/csb/proverbs/5.htm">Christian Standard Bible</a></span><br />I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/hcsb/proverbs/5.htm">Holman Christian Standard Bible</a></span><br />I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.&#8221 <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/asv/proverbs/5.htm">American Standard Version</a></span><br />I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/cev/proverbs/5.htm">Contemporary English Version</a></span><br />and now I am disgraced in front of everyone." <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/erv/proverbs/5.htm">English Revised Version</a></span><br />I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/gwt/proverbs/5.htm">GOD'S WORD® Translation</a></span><br />I almost reached total ruin in the assembly and in the congregation."<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/gnt/proverbs/5.htm">Good News Translation</a></span><br />And suddenly I found myself publicly disgraced." <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/isv/proverbs/5.htm">International Standard Version</a></span><br />Now I am at the point of utter disaster in the assembly and in the congregation."<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/msb/proverbs/5.htm">Majority Standard Bible</a></span><br />I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/net/proverbs/5.htm">NET Bible</a></span><br />I almost came to complete ruin in the midst of the whole congregation!" <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nheb/proverbs/5.htm">New Heart English Bible</a></span><br />I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wbt/proverbs/5.htm">Webster's Bible Translation</a></span><br />I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/web/proverbs/5.htm">World English Bible</a></span><br />I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.” <div class="vheading2"><b>Literal Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lsv/proverbs/5.htm">Literal Standard Version</a></span><br />As a little thing I have been all evil, "" In the midst of an assembly and a congregation.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/ylt/proverbs/5.htm">Young's Literal Translation</a></span><br /> As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/slt/proverbs/5.htm">Smith's Literal Translation</a></span><br />As I was almost in all evil in the midst of the convocation and the assembly.<div class="vheading2"><b>Catholic Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/drb/proverbs/5.htm">Douay-Rheims Bible</a></span><br />I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/cpdv/proverbs/5.htm">Catholic Public Domain Version</a></span><br />I have almost been with all evil in the midst of the church and of the assembly.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nabre/proverbs/5.htm">New American Bible</a></span><br />I am all but ruined, in the midst of the public assembly!” <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/nrsvce/proverbs/5.htm">New Revised Standard Version</a></span><br />Now I am at the point of utter ruin in the public assembly.”<div class="vheading2"><b>Translations from Aramaic</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/lamsa/proverbs/5.htm">Lamsa Bible</a></span><br />I was in almost all kinds of evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/hpbt/proverbs/5.htm">Peshitta Holy Bible Translated</a></span><br />I have been in almost every evil in the assembly and in the congregation.<div class="vheading2"><b>OT Translations</b></div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/jps/proverbs/5.htm">JPS Tanakh 1917</a></span><br />I was well nigh in all evil In the midst of the congregation and assembly.'<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/sep/proverbs/5.htm">Brenton Septuagint Translation</a></span><br />I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/parallel/proverbs/5-14.htm">Additional Translations ...</a></span></div></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><a name="study" id="study"></a><div class="vheadingv"><b>Audio Bible</b></div><iframe width="100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kpUA5ZltBeQ?start=835" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span><div class="vheadingv"><b>Context</b></div><span class="hdg"><a href="/bsb/proverbs/5.htm">Avoiding Immorality</a></span><br>…<span class="reftext">13</span>I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors. <span class="reftext">14</span><span class="highl"><a href="/hebrew/1961.htm" title="1961: hā·yî·ṯî (V-Qal-Perf-1cs) -- To fall out, come to pass, become, be. A primitive root; to exist, i.e. Be or become, come to pass.">I am</a> <a href="/hebrew/4592.htm" title="4592: kim·‘aṭ (Prep-k:: Adj-ms) -- A little, fewness, a few. Or miat; from ma'at; a little or few.">on the brink</a> <a href="/hebrew/3605.htm" title="3605: ḇə·ḵāl- (Prep-b:: N-msc) -- The whole, all. Or kowl; from kalal; properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every.">of utter</a> <a href="/hebrew/7451.htm" title="7451: rā‘ (Adj-ms) -- Bad, evil. From ra'a'; bad or evil.">ruin</a> <a href="/hebrew/8432.htm" title="8432: bə·ṯō·wḵ (Prep-b:: N-msc) -- Midst. From an unused root meaning to sever; a bisection, i.e. the centre.">in the midst</a> <a href="/hebrew/6951.htm" title="6951: qā·hāl (N-ms) -- Assembly, convocation, congregation. From qahal; assemblage.">of the whole assembly.”</a> <a href="/hebrew/5712.htm" title="5712: wə·‘ê·ḏāh (Conj-w:: N-fs) -- Congregation. Feminine of ed in the original sense of fixture; a stated assemblage."></a> </span><span class="reftext">15</span>Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.…<div class="cred"><a href="//berean.bible">Berean Standard Bible</a> · <a href="//berean.bible/downloads.htm">Download</a></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="crossref" id="crossref"></a><div class="vheading">Cross References</div><div id="crf"><span class="crossverse"><a href="/proverbs/1-24.htm">Proverbs 1:24-31</a></span><br />Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand, / because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction, / in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you, ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/proverbs/6-32.htm">Proverbs 6:32-33</a></span><br />He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. / Wounds and dishonor will befall him, and his reproach will never be wiped away.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/proverbs/7-22.htm">Proverbs 7:22-23</a></span><br />He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap, / until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/proverbs/9-13.htm">Proverbs 9:13-18</a></span><br />The woman named Folly is loud; she is naive and knows nothing. / She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the heights of the city, / calling out to those who pass by, who make their paths straight. ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/proverbs/23-27.htm">Proverbs 23:27-28</a></span><br />For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well. / Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/ecclesiastes/7-26.htm">Ecclesiastes 7:26</a></span><br />And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/jeremiah/5-7.htm">Jeremiah 5:7-9</a></span><br />“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes. / They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife. / Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/jeremiah/9-12.htm">Jeremiah 9:12-14</a></span><br />Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it? / And the LORD answered, “It is because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them; they have not walked in it or obeyed My voice. / Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/hosea/4-11.htm">Hosea 4:11-14</a></span><br />to promiscuity, wine, and new wine, which take away understanding. / My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God. / They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery. ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/malachi/2-14.htm">Malachi 2:14-16</a></span><br />Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. / Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. / “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/matthew/7-26.htm">Matthew 7:26-27</a></span><br />But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. / The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/matthew/25-1.htm">Matthew 25:1-13</a></span><br />“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. / Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. / The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take along any extra oil. ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/luke/12-45.htm">Luke 12:45-48</a></span><br />But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk. / The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. / That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows. ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/luke/15-13.htm">Luke 15:13-16</a></span><br />After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. / After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. / So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. ...<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="crossverse"><a href="/romans/1-21.htm">Romans 1:21-24</a></span><br />For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. / Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, / and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ...</div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="tsk" id="tsk"><div class="vheading">Treasury of Scripture</div><p class="tsk2">I was almost in all evil in the middle of the congregation and assembly.</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/proverbs/13-20.htm">Proverbs 13:20</a></b></br> He that walketh with wise <i>men</i> shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.</p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/numbers/25-1.htm">Numbers 25:1-6</a></b></br> And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab… </p><p class="tskverse"><b><a href="/hosea/4-11.htm">Hosea 4:11-14</a></b></br> Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart… </p><div class="vheading">Jump to Previous</div><a href="/psalms/119-87.htm">Almost</a> <a href="/psalms/140-2.htm">Assembled</a> <a href="/psalms/149-1.htm">Assembly</a> <a href="/joshua/3-15.htm">Brink</a> <a href="/psalms/141-4.htm">Company</a> <a href="/psalms/149-1.htm">Congregation</a> <a href="/proverbs/4-27.htm">Evil</a> <a href="/psalms/140-2.htm">Gathered</a> <a href="/psalms/137-9.htm">Little</a> <a href="/proverbs/4-21.htm">Midst</a> <a href="/proverbs/5-8.htm">Nigh</a> <a href="/psalms/88-15.htm">Point</a> <a href="/proverbs/3-25.htm">Ruin</a> <a href="/psalms/145-7.htm">Utter</a> <a href="/revelation/3-2.htm">Well-Nigh</a> <a href="/proverbs/4-22.htm">Whole</a><div class="vheading2">Jump to Next</div><a href="/jeremiah/52-6.htm">Almost</a> <a href="/isaiah/13-4.htm">Assembled</a> <a href="/proverbs/21-16.htm">Assembly</a> <a href="/isaiah/19-7.htm">Brink</a> <a href="/proverbs/13-20.htm">Company</a> <a href="/proverbs/21-16.htm">Congregation</a> <a href="/proverbs/5-22.htm">Evil</a> <a href="/proverbs/6-8.htm">Gathered</a> <a href="/proverbs/6-10.htm">Little</a> <a href="/proverbs/8-20.htm">Midst</a> <a href="/ecclesiastes/5-1.htm">Nigh</a> <a href="/proverbs/9-3.htm">Point</a> <a href="/proverbs/10-8.htm">Ruin</a> <a href="/proverbs/8-7.htm">Utter</a> <a href="/luke/9-39.htm">Well-Nigh</a> <a href="/proverbs/8-31.htm">Whole</a><div class="vheading2">Proverbs 5</div><span class="reftext">1. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/proverbs/5-1.htm">Solomon exhorts to wisdom</a></span><br><span class="reftext">3. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/proverbs/5-3.htm">He shows the mischief of unfaithfulness and riot</a></span><br><span class="reftext">15. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/proverbs/5-15.htm">He exhorts to contentedness, generosity, and chastity</a></span><br><span class="reftext">22. </span><span class="outlinetext"><a href="/proverbs/5-22.htm">The wicked are overtaken with their own sins</a></span><br></div></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><br /><br /> </div> </td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="combox"><div class="padcom"><a name="commentary" id="commentary"></a><div class="vheading"><a href="/study/proverbs/5.htm">Berean Study Bible</a></div><b>I am on the brink</b><br />This phrase captures a moment of intense realization and urgency. The Hebrew root here is "כמעט" (kim'at), which conveys a sense of being on the verge or edge of something significant. In the context of Proverbs, it suggests a critical point where one must make a decisive choice. Historically, this reflects the wisdom literature's emphasis on the importance of timely decisions and the consequences of one's actions. The imagery of a brink or edge is powerful, evoking the precariousness of life choices and the need for divine wisdom to navigate them.<p><b>of utter ruin</b><br />The term "ruin" in Hebrew is "רעה" (ra'ah), which can mean evil, disaster, or calamity. This word underscores the severity of the consequences that follow poor decisions, particularly those related to moral and ethical failings. In the scriptural context, it serves as a warning against the dangers of straying from God's commandments. The historical backdrop of Israel, with its cycles of faithfulness and rebellion, illustrates the tangible outcomes of ignoring divine wisdom. This phrase is a sobering reminder of the potential for complete devastation when one turns away from righteous living.<p><b>in the midst of the assembly and congregation</b><br />The Hebrew words "קהל" (qahal) and "עדה" (edah) refer to a gathering or assembly, often used in the context of the community of Israel. This phrase highlights the public nature of the speaker's downfall, emphasizing that personal sins can have communal repercussions. In ancient Israel, the assembly was not just a social gathering but a spiritual community bound by covenantal laws. The mention of the assembly and congregation serves as a reminder that one's actions are not isolated but affect the broader community. It also reflects the biblical principle that accountability and repentance are communal processes, where the community plays a role in guiding and restoring individuals.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/proverbs/5.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(14) <span class= "bld">I was almost in all evil </span>. . .--Rather, <span class= "ital">I had almost fallen into every sin: I was so infatuated that I might have committed any sin, and that openly before all. </span>Or, <span class= "ital">I</span> <span class= "ital">might have been visited with extremest punishment at the hands of the congregation, death by stoning </span>(<a href="/leviticus/20-10.htm" title="And the man that commits adultery with another man's wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.">Leviticus 20:10</a>, <a href="/john/8-5.htm" title="Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what say you?">John 8:5</a>). The offender's eyes are now opened, and he shudders at the thought of the still greater troubles into which he might, in his infatuation, have fallen.<p><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/proverbs/5.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> such was my shamelessness that there was scarcely any wickedness which I did not commit, unrestrained even by the presence of the congregation and assembly. The fact which the ruined youth laments is the extent and audacity of his sins. It is not that he accuses himself of hypocrisy in religion (Delitzsch), but he adds another clement in his career of vice. He has disregarded the warnings and reproofs of his teachers and friends; but more, the presence of the congregation of God's people, a silent but not a less impressive protest, had no restraining effect upon him. The words, "the congregation and assembly" (Hebrew, <span class="accented">kahal v'edah</span>), seem to be used to heighten the conception, rather than to express two distinct and separate ideas, since we find them both used interchangeably to designate the congregation of the Israelites. The radical conception of <span class="accented">kahal</span> ("congregation") is the same as that of the LXX. <span class="greek">ἐκκλήσια</span> and Vulgate <span class="accented">ecclesia</span>, viz. the congregation looked upon from the point of its being called together, <span class="accented">kahal</span> being derived from <span class="accented">kahal</span>, which in hiph. is equivalent to "to call together," while that of <span class="accented">edah</span> is the congregation looked at from the point of its having assembled <span class="accented">edah</span> being derived from <span class="accented">yaad</span>, in niph. equivalent to "to come together." The latter will therefore stand for any assembly of people specially convened or coming together for some definite object, like the LXX. <span class="greek">συναγώγη</span> and the Vulgate <span class="accented">synagoga</span>. The term <span class="accented">edah</span> is, however, used in a technical sense as signifying the <span class="accented">seventy elders</span>, or senators, who judged the people (see <a href="/numbers/25-7.htm">Numbers 25:7</a>; <a href="/numbers/35-12.htm">Numbers 35:12</a>). Rabbi Salomon so explains <span class="accented">haedah</span> as "the congregation," in <a href="/joshua/20-6.htm">Joshua 20:6</a> and <a href="/numbers/27-21.htm">Numbers 27:21</a>. Other explanations, however, have been given of these words. Zockler takes <span class="accented">kahal</span> as the convened council of elders acting as judges (<a href="/deuteronomy/33-4.htm">Deuteronomy 33:4, 5</a>), and <span class="accented">edah</span> as the concourse (<span class="accented">coetus</span>) of the people executing the condemning sentence (<a href="/numbers/15-15.htm">Numbers 15:15</a>; cf. <a href="/psalms/7-7.htm">Psalm 7:7</a>), and renders, "Well nigh had I fallen into utter destruction in the midst of the assembly and the congregation." Fleischer, Vatablus, and Bayne take much the same view, looking upon <span class="accented">ra</span> ("evil," Authorized Version) as "punishment," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the evil which follows as a consequence of sin - a usage supported by <a href="/2_samuel/16-18.htm">2 Samuel 16:18</a>; <a href="/exodus/5-19.htm">Exodus 5:19</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/7-23.htm">1 Chronicles 7:23</a>; <a href="/psalms/10-6.htm">Psalm 10:6</a> - rather than as evil <span class="accented">per se, i.e.</span> that which is morally bad, as in <a href="/exodus/32-22.htm">Exodus 32:22</a>. Aben Ezra considers that the <span class="accented">perfect</span> is used for the <span class="accented">future</span>; "In a little time I shall be involved in all evil;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> punishment, which is looked forward to prospectively. For "almost" (<span class="accented">ki</span>-<span class="accented">mat</span>, equivalent to "within a little," "almost," "nearly"), see <a href="/genesis/26-10.htm">Genesis 26:10</a>; <a href="/psalms/73-2.htm">Psalm 73:2</a>; <a href="/psalms/119-87.htm">Psalm 119:87</a>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/commentaries/proverbs/5-14.htm">Parallel Commentaries ...</a></span><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span><a name="lexicon" id="lexicon"></a><div class="vheading">Hebrew</div><span class="word">I am</span><br /><span class="heb">הָיִ֣יתִי</span> <span class="translit">(hā·yî·ṯî)</span><br /><span class="parse">Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_1961.htm">Strong's 1961: </a> </span><span class="str2">To fall out, come to pass, become, be</span><br /><br /><span class="word">on the brink</span><br /><span class="heb">כִּ֭מְעַט</span> <span class="translit">(kim·‘aṭ)</span><br /><span class="parse">Preposition-k | Adjective - masculine singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_4592.htm">Strong's 4592: </a> </span><span class="str2">A little, fewness, a few</span><br /><br /><span class="word">of utter</span><br /><span class="heb">בְכָל־</span> <span class="translit">(ḇə·ḵāl-)</span><br /><span class="parse">Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_3605.htm">Strong's 3605: </a> </span><span class="str2">The whole, all, any, every</span><br /><br /><span class="word">ruin</span><br /><span class="heb">רָ֑ע</span> <span class="translit">(rā‘)</span><br /><span class="parse">Adjective - masculine singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_7451.htm">Strong's 7451: </a> </span><span class="str2">Bad, evil</span><br /><br /><span class="word">in the midst</span><br /><span class="heb">בְּת֖וֹךְ</span> <span class="translit">(bə·ṯō·wḵ)</span><br /><span class="parse">Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_8432.htm">Strong's 8432: </a> </span><span class="str2">A bisection, the centre</span><br /><br /><span class="word">of the whole assembly.”</span><br /><span class="heb">קָהָ֣ל</span> <span class="translit">(qā·hāl)</span><br /><span class="parse">Noun - masculine singular<br /></span><span class="str"><a href="/hebrew/strongs_6951.htm">Strong's 6951: </a> </span><span class="str2">Assembly, convocation, congregation</span><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div class="vheading">Links</div><a href="/niv/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="//bibleapps.com/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 BibleApps.com</a><br /><a href="//bibliaparalela.com/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="//holybible.com.cn/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="//saintebible.com/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 French Bible</a><br /><a href="/catholic/proverbs/5-14.htm">Proverbs 5:14 Catholic Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/proverbs/5-14.htm">OT Poetry: Proverbs 5:14 I have come to the brink (Prov. 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