Bible Strands
Proverbs 2:16
It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wisdom speaker addresses a student, positioning divine rescue as the immediate response to the crooked paths described in the preceding warning. This moment frames protection as the practical outcome of heeding instruction.
The words — The Hebrew לְהַצִּילְךָ (lehaTzi lekha) translates literally to "to deliver you," directly paired with מֵאִשָּׁה זָרָה (me'ishah zarah), meaning "from a strange woman." The phrase מִנָּכְרִיָּה אֲמָרֶיהָ הֶחֱלִיקָה (minnəkhriyyah 'amarêh hekhelîqah) describes her as a foreigner whose words she smooths or flatters.
The thread — The text repeats this warning in Proverbs 6:24 against the smooth tongue of an adulteress and in Proverbs 7:5 against the stranger with seductive words. Ecclesiastes 7:26 parallels the passage by identifying the same figure as a snare whose heart functions as a net.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to identify deceptive speech as a direct threat to covenant commitment. It demands active reliance on wisdom as a defensive mechanism rather than passive agreement with moral instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 7:26 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.
- Proverbs 6:24 to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
- Proverbs 7:5 that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.
- Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
- Proverbs 23:27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
- Genesis 39:3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did,
- Nehemiah 13:26 Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
- Proverbs 5:3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- Proverbs 29:5 A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.