Bible Strands
Proverbs 7:10
Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A woman approaches a man at twilight as daylight fades into night. She emerges from the darkness to intercept him on his path.
The words — The Hebrew shit (garment) and zo'nah (prostitute) combine to describe her clothing as marking her profession. Netzerat (guarded) paired with lev (heart) literally denotes a heart that is tightly secured or cunning.
The thread — This depiction of calculated seduction parallels the warning against deceptive influence in 2 Corinthians 11:3, while contrasting with the call for modest apparel in 1 Timothy 2:9. The imagery of outward display masking internal intent also echoes the critique of haughty conduct in Isaiah 3:16.
Why it lands — The text describes a deliberate encounter where external appearance conceals a guarded, calculating intent. It requires the reader to recognize how calculated allure operates through visual and behavioral cues before drawing moral conclusions.
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
And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 3:16 The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
- 2 Corinthians 11:2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
- 1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
- 2 Kings 9:30 Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.
- Jeremiah 4:30 And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.
- Genesis 38:14 she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
- 2 Kings 9:22 When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
- Isaiah 23:16 “Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.”
- Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
- Revelation 17:3 And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.