Proverbs / Question
Proverbs 7:6–23 tells a scene of a naïve young man being persuaded by flattering words and a planned opportunity. The story describes his quick surrender and compares his path to an ox going to slaughter and a bird rushing into a snare. It frames the encounter as a hidden trap rather than a safe choice.
In Proverbs 7:6–9, the speaker describes watching from his house and noticing a young man among the inexperienced. The young man is described as lacking good sense, and the scene follows him as he walks near a particular woman’s corner and heads toward her house. The timing is stressed: it is late, moving from twilight into deeper night. This passage sits inside a longer warning in Proverbs 7, where a fatherly voice urges the learner to take wisdom seriously and avoid the seduction that leads to harm. Just before these verses, the teacher calls for internalizing instruction so it shapes choices in real situations.
These verses open a “watched it happen” scene. The speaker claims a real vantage point—looking out from the window of his house through a lattice—and then reports what he sees (explicit textual claims). The focus narrows from a group (“simple ones,” “youths”) to one representative young man described as lacking understanding.
A common mistake is to turn the wording into a slogan. The better reading keeps the phrase tied to the passage, the speaker, and the problem the book is addressing.
Start with Proverbs 7:6-23, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
6For at the window of my house, I looked forth through my lattice.
7I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding,
8Passing through the street near her corner, He went the way to her house,
9In the twilight, in the evening of the day, In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, And with crafty intent.
11She is loud and defiant. Her feet don`t stay in her house.
12Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, And lurking at every corner.
13So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:
14"Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows.
15Therefore I came out to meet you, To diligently seek your face, And I have found you.
16I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18Come, let`s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let`s solace ourselves with loving.
19For my husband isn`t at home. He has gone on a long journey.
20He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."
21With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
22He followed her immediately, As an ox goes to the slaughter, As a fool stepping into a noose.
23Until an arrow strikes through his liver, As a bird hurries to the snare, And doesn`t know that it will cost his life.