Bible Strands
Proverbs 7:16
I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The woman in Proverbs 7 addresses the young man she has just found after actively seeking him out. She speaks at the moment of seduction, describing how she has prepared her sleeping quarters to draw him in.
The words — The text highlights חֲטֻבּוֹת (chatuvot) as colored or embroidered fabrics and אֵטֻן (etun) as fine linen sourced from Egypt. These terms specify the exact imported materials used to deck the bed.
The thread — Egyptian linen appears in Ezekiel 27:7 as material for merchant sails and in Isaiah 19:9 where linen workers face distress. Solomon’s commercial reliance on Egyptian goods is also recorded in 1 Kings 10:28.
Why it lands — The passage states the deliberate arrangement of imported luxury to secure a private encounter. A reader must recognize that calculated hospitality is deployed here as a mechanism for entrapment rather than genuine care.
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
I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 19:9 The workers in flax will be dismayed, and the weavers of fine linen will turn pale.
- Ezekiel 27:7 Of embroidered fine linen from Egypt they made your sail, which served as your banner. Of blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah they made your awning.
- 1 Kings 10:28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.
- Proverbs 31:22 She makes coverings for her bed; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
- Song of Solomon 3:7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty of the mightiest men of Israel.
- Revelation 2:22 Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.
- Song of Solomon 1:16 How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.