Bible Strands
Proverbs 2:19
None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wisdom instructor addresses a student or son, warning him about the irreversible consequences of pursuing the path of a seductive woman. The instruction occurs within a didactic framework contrasting the ways of folly with the way of righteousness.
The words — יְשׁוּב֑וּ (ye.shu.Vu) means "they return," and יַ֝שִּׂ֗יגוּ (ya.Si.gu) means "they reach." These verbs describe the permanent loss of return and the failure to attain the destination of life.
The thread — The text states that those who follow this path never return or reach life's paths. This irreversible departure aligns with Ecclesiastes 7:26, which describes a woman as a snare more bitter than death, and Psalms 81:12, where God abandons stubborn people to their own devices. Hosea 4:14 further illustrates how persistent immorality results in unaddressed corruption.
Why it lands — The verse demands a clear-eyed assessment of consequences before making a choice. It requires the reader to recognize that certain paths permanently cut off access to life and to deliberately align with the righteous instead.
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
None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
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.
- Psalms 81:12 So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
- Hosea 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.
- Matthew 19:24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
- Proverbs 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- Jeremiah 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.
- Hebrews 6:18 Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.