Proverbs 22:14

The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) Strange women.—See above on Proverbs 2:16.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 22:14. The mouth of strange women — Their fair and flattering speeches, wherewith they entice men into sin, as is observed Proverbs 7:21, into which it is easy to fall, but out of which it is hard, if not impossible, to be rescued. For it is a rare thing for any person, who has once entered into a course of lewdness: to recover himself from it, Proverbs 2:19. He that is abhorred of the Lord — Namely, in a high and singular manner; who by his former impieties, and contempt of God and his grace, hath provoked God to leave him to his own heart’s lusts, and to punish one sin with another; shall fall therein — And, without a miracle of grace, shall perish everlastingly.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1 We should be more careful to do that by which we may get and keep a good name, than to raise or add unto a great estate. 2. Divine Providence has so ordered it, that some are rich, and others poor, but all are guilty before God; and at the throne of God's grace the poor are as welcome as the rich. 3. Faith foresees the evil coming upon sinners, and looks to Jesus Christ as the sure refuge from the storm. 4. Where the fear of God is, there will be humility. And much is to be enjoyed by it; spiritual riches, and eternal life at last. 5. The way of sin is vexatious and dangerous. But the way of duty is safe and easy. 6. Train children, not in the way they would go, that of their corrupt hearts, but in the way they should go; in which, if you love them, you would have them go. As soon as possible every child should be led to the knowledge of the Saviour. 7. This shows how important it is for every man to keep out of debt. As to the things of this life, there is a difference between the rich and the poor; but let the poor remember, it is the Lord that made the difference. 8. The power which many abuse, will soon fail them. 9. He that seeks to relieve the wants and miseries of others shall be blessed. 10. Profane scoffers and revilers disturb the peace. 11. God will be the Friend of a man in whose spirit there is no guile; this honour have all the saints. 12. God turns the counsels and designs of treacherous men to their own confusion. 13. The slothful man talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him. 14. The vile sin of licentiousness commonly besots the mind beyond recovery. 15. Sin is foolishness, it is in the heart, there is an inward inclination to sin: children bring it into the world with them; and it cleaves close to the soul. We all need to be corrected by our heavenly Father. 16. We are but stewards, and must distribute what God intrusts to our care, according to his will.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The fall of the man into the snare of the harlot seems to be the consequence of the abhorrence or wrath of Yahweh. That abhorrence is, however, the result of previous evil. The man is left to himself, and sin becomes the penalty of sin.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. The mouth—or flattering speeches (Pr 5:3; 7:5) ensnare man, as pits, beasts. God makes their own sin their punishment.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The mouth; her fair and flattering speeches, wherewith she enticeth him to gross filthiness, as it is noted, Proverbs 7:21.

A deep pit; into which it is easy to fall, but hard, if not impossible, to get out of it. It is a rare thing for any person, once entered into the course of whoredom, sincerely to repent of it, and turn from it. See Proverbs 2:19.

That is abhorred of the Lord, to wit, in a high and singular manner; who by his former impieties, and contempt of God and of his grace, hath provoked God to leave and loathe him, and to punish one sin with another; for otherwise all sinners, as such, are abhorred by God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The mouth of strange women is a deep pit,.... The mouth of harlots; the kisses of their mouth, their fair speech and flattering words, their amorous talk, and lascivious and wanton language, ensnare and draw unwary persons to commit lewdness with them, which bring them into a pit of ruin and destruction; a filthy one, and very deep, out of which it is not easy nor usual to be extricated: the allusion is to beasts taken in a pit dug for them; and these are as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed;

he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein; who has been guilty of other sins, and such as have caused the Lord to abhor him, and therefore leaves him to fall into this: one sin not only leads on to another, but is the punishment of another; men are seldom guilty of this sin of whoredom, but who have been first abandoned to other vices very provoking to. God; see Ecclesiastes 7:26. Jarchi interprets all this of idolatry; and it may be very well applied to the whore of Rome, and the harlots she is mother of; who, by her fair words and false doctrines, by her mouth speaking blasphemies and lies in hypocrisy, by her golden cup in her hand full of abomination and filthiness of fornication, and by her sorceries, have deceived many, and brought them into the pit of perdition and ruin: and these are such whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life; but are rejected of God, and given up to believe a lie, that they might be damned, Revelation 17:4.

Geneva Study Bible

The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred by the LORD {k} shall fall in it.

(k) So God punishes one sin by another, when he suffers the wicked to fall into the acquaintance of a harlot.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. a deep pit] such as is dug by a hunter for his prey. Comp. Proverbs 23:27.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - The mouth of strange women is a deep pit. The hemistich reappears in a slightly altered form at Proverbs 23:27. (For "strange woman" as equivalent to "a harlot" or "adulteress," see note on Proverbs 2:16.) By her "mouth" is meant her wanton, seductive words, which entice a man to destruction of body and soul. It may be that theology rather than morals is signified here - rather false doctrines than evil practice. In this case the mention of the strange or foreign woman is very appropriate, seeing that perversions of belief and worship were always introduced into Israel from external sources. He that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. He who has incurred the width of God by previous unfaithfulness and sin is left to himself to fall a prey to the allurements of the wicked woman (comp. Ecclesiastes 7:26). Septuagint, "The mouth of a transgressor (παρανόμου) is a deep ditch; and he that is hated of the Lord shall fall therein." Then are added three lines not in the Hebrew, which, however, seem to be reminiscences of other passages: "There are evil ways before a man, and be loveth not to turn away from them; but it is needful to turn away item a perverse and evil way." Proverbs 22:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

14 A deep pit is the mouth of a strange woman;

     He that is cursed of God falleth therein.

The first line appears in a different form as a synonymous distich, Proverbs 23:27. The lxx translate στόμα παρανόμου without certainly indicating which word they here read, whether רע (Proverbs 4:14), or רשׁע (Proverbs 29:12), or נלוז (Proverbs 3:32). Proverbs 23:27 is adduced in support of זרות (vid., Proverbs 2:16); זנות (harlots) are meant, and it is not necessary thus to read with Ewald. The mouth of this strange woman or depraved Israelitess is a deep ditch (שׁוּחה עמקּה, otherwise עמקה, as Proverbs 23:27, where also occurs עמוּקה

(Note: The text to Immanuel's Comment. (Naples 1487) has in both instances עמוּקה.)

namely, a snare-pit into which he is enticed by her wanton words; the man who stands in fellowship with God is armed against this syren voice; but the 'זעוּם ה, i.e., he who is an object of the divine זעם (Venet. κεχολωμένος τῷ ὀντωτῇ), indignation, punishing evil with evil, falls into the pit, yielding to the seduction and the ruin. Schultens explains 'זעום ה by, is in quem despumat indignabundus; but the meaning despumat is not substantiated; זעם, cf. Arab. zaghm, is probably a word which by its sound denoted anger as a hollow roaring, and like pealing thunder. The lxx has, after Proverbs 22:14, three tedious moralizing lines.