Bible Strands
Proverbs 6:32
He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author of Proverbs addresses a young man or general audience, issuing this warning immediately after describing the financial penalty of being caught and immediately before detailing the lasting shame that follows. The instruction functions as the theological explanation for the preceding and following verses.
The words — The text employs נֹאֵף (no'ef), literally "one who commits adultery," and חֲסַר־לֵב (chasar-lev), meaning "lacking heart" or "devoid of judgment." It also uses מַשְׁחִית (mashchit), rendered as "one who destroys," paired with נַפְשׁוֹ (nafsho), "his own self."
The thread — This pattern of self-destruction through sexual immorality runs through Proverbs 7:7 and Proverbs 7:22, where the simple youth follows impulse to his ruin. The New Testament reinforces the warning in Hebrews 13:4, which declares that God will judge the sexually immoral.
Why it lands — The passage demands the reader recognize adultery as a fundamental failure of discernment rather than a simple moral lapse. It requires an unflinching acknowledgment that the act inherently brings self-ruin and irreversible shame without offering consolation.
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
But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 7:7 I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment,
- Proverbs 7:22 He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap,
- Hebrews 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Romans 1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Proverbs 2:18 For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
- Ecclesiastes 7:25 I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness.
- Genesis 39:9 No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”
- Genesis 41:39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.
- Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
- Proverbs 5:22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.