Proverbs 30:20
New International Version
“This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

New Living Translation
An adulterous woman consumes a man, then wipes her mouth and says, “What’s wrong with that?”

English Standard Version
This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.”

Berean Standard Bible
This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’

King James Bible
Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

New King James Version
This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wickedness.”

New American Standard Bible
This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wrong.”

NASB 1995
This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wrong.”

NASB 1977
This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wrong.”

Legacy Standard Bible
This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wrong.”

Amplified Bible
This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth And says, “I have done no wrong.”

Christian Standard Bible
This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

American Standard Version
So is the way of an adulterous woman; She eateth, and wipeth her mouth, And saith, I have done no wickedness.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
So is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats and she wipes her mouth and she says, "I have done nothing.”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who having washed herself from what she has done, says she has done nothing amiss.

Contemporary English Version
An unfaithful wife says, "Sleeping with another man is as natural as eating."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Such is also the way of an adulterous woman, who eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith: I have done no evil.

English Revised Version
So is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
This is the way of a woman who commits adultery: She eats, wipes her mouth, and says, "I haven't done anything wrong!"

Good News Translation
This is how an unfaithful wife acts: she commits adultery, takes a bath, and says, "But I haven't done anything wrong!"

International Standard Version
This is what an immoral woman is like: she eats, wipes her mouth, then says "I've done nothing wrong."

JPS Tanakh 1917
So is the way of an adulterous woman; She eateth, and wipeth her mouth, And saith: 'I have done no wickedness.'

Literal Standard Version
So—the way of an adulterous woman, | She has eaten and has wiped her mouth, | And has said, “I have not done iniquity.”

Majority Standard Bible
This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’

New American Bible
This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats, wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong.”

NET Bible
This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, "I have not done wrong."

New Revised Standard Version
This is the way of an adulteress: she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong.”

New Heart English Bible
"So is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done nothing wrong.'

Webster's Bible Translation
Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

World English Bible
“So is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’

Young's Literal Translation
So -- the way of an adulterous woman, She hath eaten and hath wiped her mouth, And hath said, 'I have not done iniquity.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Words of Agur
19the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship at sea, and the way of a man with a maiden. 20This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’ 21Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:…

Cross References
Proverbs 5:6
She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

Proverbs 30:21
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:


Treasury of Scripture

Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and said, I have done no wickedness.

Proverbs 7:13-23
So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, …

Numbers 5:11-30
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, …

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Adulteress Adulterous Cleaning Eaten Eateth Eats Food Iniquity I've Mouth Way Wickedness Wife Wiped Wipes Wipeth Wrong
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Adulteress Adulterous Cleaning Eaten Eateth Eats Food Iniquity I've Mouth Way Wickedness Wife Wiped Wipes Wipeth Wrong
Proverbs 30
1. Agur's confession of his faith
7. The two points of his prayer
10. The meanest are not to be wronged
11. Four wicked generations
15. Four things insatiable
24. four things exceeding wise
29. Four things stately
32. Wrath is to be prevented














(20) Such is the way of an adulterous woman.--As there is no proof of her guilt, she flatly denies it.

Verse 20. - This verse is a kind of gloss or illustration of the last thought of the preceding verse, and seems not to have formed an original part of the numerical proverb. It might well be placed in a parenthesis. Many commentators consider it to be an interpolation. Such is the way of an adulterous woman. What Agur had said of a man above, he now applies to the practised adulteress, whose sin cannot be traced. She eateth. This is a euphemism for the sin which she commits, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant" (Proverbs 9:17; comp. Proverbs 5:15). And wipeth her mouth, as if to leave no trace of her illicit repast. And saith, I have done no wickedness. As she has sinned in secret, and there is no outward proof of her guilt, she boldly denies it. Septuagint, "Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who, when she has committed the act, having washed herself, says she has done nothing amiss." She forgets him who seeth in secret, and is quite content to escape detection at man's eyes, and to assume the character of a virtuous wife, which popular report assigns to her.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
This
כֵּ֤ן ׀ (kên)
Adverb
Strong's 3651: So -- thus

is the way
דֶּ֥רֶךְ (de·reḵ)
Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

of an adulteress:
אִשָּׁ֗ה (’iš·šāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

She eats
אָ֭כְלָה (’ā·ḵə·lāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 398: To eat

and wipes
וּמָ֣חֲתָה (ū·mā·ḥă·ṯāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 4229: To stroke, rub, to erase, to smooth, grease, make fat, to touch, reach to

her mouth
פִ֑יהָ (p̄î·hā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 6310: The mouth, edge, portion, side, according to

and says,
וְ֝אָמְרָ֗ה (wə·’ā·mə·rāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“I have done
פָעַ֥לְתִּי (p̄ā·‘al·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 6466: To do, make, to practise

no
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

wrong.”
אָֽוֶן׃ (’ā·wen)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 205: Strictly nothingness, trouble, vanity, wickedness, an idol


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 30:20 So is the way of an adulterous (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 30:19
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