Bible Strands
Proverbs 6:27
Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The wisdom teacher addresses a student in a section warning against sexual immorality, placing the verse immediately after a statement about the lethal cost of pursuing a prostitute.
The words — אֵשׁ ('esh) means fire, and בְּחֵיקוֹ (be-chei.ko) denotes the bosom or inner garment, describing the physical act of holding something tightly against one's body.
The thread — The image of unavoidable destruction from hidden contact appears in the immediate context of Proverbs 6:28, parallels Job 31:9's warning about enticement by a neighbor's wife, echoes Hosea 7:4's comparison of adulterers to an oven's fire, and aligns with James 3:5's observation that a small spark can set a great forest ablaze.
Why it lands — It demands the reader recognize that intimate contact with sin, whether hidden or physical, carries inevitable, self-destructive consequences that concealment cannot prevent.
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
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Cross-references
- Job 31:9 If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
- Hosea 7:4 They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker who needs not stoke the fire from the kneading to the rising of the dough.
- James 3:5 In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.