Proverbs 6:32
He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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Proverbs 6:32
He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This page isn't yet indexed by search engines.
This verse comes after a stark warning against adultery, contrasting the thief stealing out of hunger with the adulterer's self-destructive lust. The immediate context highlights that unlike the thief who acts out of necessity, the adulterer has no such excuse and foolishly risks everything for fleeting gratification.
This verse comes right after a warning about the devastating consequences of adultery, contrasting the foolishness of the adulterer with the desperate but understandable actions of a thief. The text is building a case against illicit sexual behavior, showing how it leads to ruin. Following this, the proverb directly states the core issue: adultery isn't just wrong, it's a profound failure of wisdom and a path to self-destruction.
Understand the original words
na'aph · Hebrew Verb
Sexual relations between a married person and someone other than their spouse, considered a serious sin against God, the covenant of marriage, and one’s neighbor. It is treated in Proverbs as a betrayal of trust and a violation of divine wisdom.
chasar-leb · Hebrew Noun phrase
A phrase denoting a deficiency of heart or understanding; it implies a failure to grasp divine wisdom or the fatal consequences of one's sinful actions. The "heart" in Hebrew thought is the center of the intellect, will, and moral decision-making.
This passage directly addresses the severe penalty for adultery under the Mosaic Law, reinforcing the 'destroying himself' aspect of Proverbs 6:32 as it speaks to a capital offense punishable by death.
Romans 1:26-27Paul describes how people who abandon God engage in sexual immorality and suffer consequences, linking the act of lustful desire to a perversion of natural affections, mirroring the 'lacks sense' idea in Proverbs.
1 Corinthians 6:18This verse starkly warns believers against sexual immorality, stating that 'the sexually immoral person sins against his own body,' which echoes the self-destructive nature of adultery highlighted in Proverbs.
Hebrews 13:4This verse elevates marriage by stating, 'Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled,' directly contrasting with and condemning the act of adultery that Proverbs warns against.
clarkeProverbs 6:32: "But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul."
But whoso committeth adultery - The case understood is that of a married man: he has a wife; and therefore is not in the circumstances of the poor thief, who stole to appease his hunger, having nothing to eat. In this alone the opposition between the two cases is found: the thief had no food, and he stole some; the married man had a wife, and yet went in to the wife of hi…
gillProverbs 6:32: "But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul."
But whoso committeth adultery with a woman,.... Which is a greater degree of theft than the former, it being the stealing of another man's wife; lacketh understanding; or "an heart" (t); the thief lacks bread, and therefore steals, but this man lacks wisdom, and therefore acts so foolish a part; the one does it to satisfy hunger, the other a brutish lust; he that doeth it…
This verse comes after a stark warning against adultery, contrasting the thief stealing out of hunger with the adulterer's self-destructive lust. The immediate context highlights that unlike the thief who acts out of necessity, the adulterer has no such excuse and foolishly risks everything for fleeting gratification.
This verse comes right after a warning about the devastating consequences of adultery, contrasting the foolishness of the adulterer with the desperate but understandable actions of a thief. The text is building a case against illicit sexual behavior, showing how it leads to ruin. Following this, the proverb directly states the core issue: adultery isn't just wrong, it's a profound failure of wisdom and a path to self-destruction.
This verse comes right after a warning about the devastating consequences of adultery, contrasting the foolishness of the adulterer with the desperate but understandable actions of a thief. The text is building a case against illicit sexual behavior, showing how it leads to ruin. Following this, the proverb directly states the core issue: adultery isn't just wrong, it's a profound failure of wisdom and a path to self-destruction.
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"He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself." — This verse comes after a stark warning against adultery, contrasting the thief stealing out of hunger with the adulterer's self-destructive lust. The immediate context highlights that unlike the thie…