---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Proverbs 6:1. If thou be surety for thy friend — לרעך lereacha, for thy neighbour; i.e., any person. If thou pledge thyself in behalf of another, th"
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url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/6"
---

Verse [Proverbs 6:1](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/1). ***If thou be surety for thy friend*** — לרעך *lereacha*, for thy *neighbour*; i.e., any person. If thou pledge thyself in behalf of another, thou takest the burden off him, and placest it on thine own shoulders; and when he knows he has got one to stand between him and the demands of law and justice, he will feel little responsibility; his spirit of exertion will become crippled, and listlessness as to the event will be the consequence. His own character will suffer little; his property nothing, for his friend bears all the burden: and perhaps the very person for whom he bore this burden treats him with neglect; and, lest the restoration of the pledge should be required, will avoid both the sight and presence of his friend. *Give* what thou canst; but, except in extreme cases, be *surety* for no man. *Striking* or *shaking hands* when the *mouth had once made the promise*, was considered as the *ratification* of the engagement; and thus the man became *ensnared with the words of his mouth*.

Verse [Proverbs 6:3](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/3). ***Do this - deliver thyself*** — Continue to press him for whom thou art become surety, to pay his creditor; give him no rest till he do it, else thou mayest fully expect to be left to pay the debt.

Verse [Proverbs 6:5](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/5). ***Deliver thyself as a roe*** — צבי *tsebi*, the antelope. If thou art got into the snare, get out if thou possibly canst; make every *struggle* and *excertion*, as the antelope taken in the net, and the bird taken in the snare would, in order to get free from thy captivity.

Verse [Proverbs 6:6](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/6). ***Go to the ant, thou sluggard*** — נמלה *nemalah*, the *ant,* is a remarkable creature for *foresight, industry*, and *economy*. At the proper seasons they collect their food-not in the *summer* to lay up for the *winter*; for they sleep during the winter, and eat not; and therefore such hoards would be to them useless; but when the food necessary for them is most plentiful, then they collect it for their consumption in the proper seasons. No insect is more *laborious*, not even the *bee* itself; and none is more *fondly* *attached* to or more *careful* of its young, than the ant. When the young are in their *aurelia* state, in which they appear like a small *grain* of *rice*, they will bring them out of their nests, and lay them near their holes, for the benefit of the sun; and on the approach of *rain*, carefully remove them, and deposit them in the nest, the hole or entrance to which they will cover with a piece of thin stone or tile, to prevent the wet from getting in. It is a fact that they do not lay up any meat for winter; nor does Solomon, either here or in [Proverbs 30:25](../../../kjv/proverbs/30/25), assert it. He simply says that they provide their food in summer, and gather it in harvest; these are the most proper times for a stock to be laid in for their consumption; not in *winter*; for no such thing appears in any of their nests, nor do they need it, as they *sleep* during that season; but for autumn, during which they wake and work. Spring, summer, and autumn, they are incessant in their labour; and their conduct affords a bright example to men.

Verse [Proverbs 6:10](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/10). ***Yet a little sleep, a little slumber*** — This, if not the *language*, is the *feeling* of the sluggard. The *ant* gathers its food in summer and in harvest, and sleeps in winter when it has no work to do. If the sluggard would work in the day, and sleep at night, it would be all proper. The ant yields him a lesson of reproach.

Verse [Proverbs 6:11](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/11). ***So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth*** — That is, with slow, but surely approaching steps.
***Thy want as an armed man.*** — That is, with irresistible fury; and thou art not prepared to oppose it. The *Vulgate, Septuagint*, and *Arabic* add the following clause to this verse: -
"But if thou wilt be diligent, thy harvest shall be as a fountain; and poverty shall flee far away from thee."
It is also thus in the Old MS. Bible: *If forsothe unslow thou* *shul ben; shul comen as a welle thi rip; and nede fer shal fleen* *fro thee*.

Verse [Proverbs 6:12](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/12). ***A naughty person*** — אדם בליעל *adam beliyal*, "Adam good for nothing." When he lost his innocence. *A man apostata*; Old MS. Bible.
***A wicked man*** — איש און *ish aven*. He soon became a general transgressor after having departed from his God. All his posterity, unless restored by Divine grace, are men of Belial, and sinners by trade; and most of them, in one form or other, answer the character here given. They yield their members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.

Verse [Proverbs 6:13](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/13). ***He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet,**********he teacheth with his fingers*** — These things seem to be spoken of debauchees; and the following quotation from Ovid, Amor. lib. i., El. iv., ver. 15, shows the whole process of the villany spoken of by Solomon:
*Verba* leges *digitis, verba notata mero*.
Cum tibi succurrit Veneris lascivia nostrae,
*Purpureas* tenero *pollice tange genas*, &c., &c.

The whole *elegy* is in the same strain: it is translated in *Garth's* Ovid, but cannot be introduced here.

Verse [Proverbs 6:14](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/14). ***He deviseth mischief*** — He plots schemes and plans to bring it to pass.
***He soweth discord.*** — Between men and their wives, by seducing the latter from their fidelity. See the preceding quotation.

Verse [Proverbs 6:15](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/15). ***Suddenly shall he be broken*** — Probably alluding to some punishment of the adulterer, such as being *stoned to death*. A multitude shall join together, and so overwhelm him with stones, that he shall have his flesh and bones broken to pieces, and there shall be *no remedy*-none to deliver or pity him.

Verse [Proverbs 6:16](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/16). ***These six - doth the Lord hate*** —
1. *A proud look* - exalted eyes; those who will not condescend to look on the rest of mankind.
2. *A lying tongue* - he who neither loves nor tells *truth*.
3. *Hands that shed innocent blood*, whether by murder or by battery.
4. *A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations* - the heart that *fabricates* such, lays the foundation, builds upon it, and completes the superstructure of *iniquity*.
5. *Feet that be swift in* *running to mischief* - he who works iniquity with greediness.
6. *A* *false witness that speaketh lies* - one who, even on his oath before a court of justice, tells any thing but the truth.
***Seven*****are*****an abomination unto him*** — נפשו *naphsho*, "to his soul." The seventh is, *he that soweth discord among brethren* - he who troubles the peace of a family, of a village, of the state; all who, by lies and misrepresentations, strive to make men's minds evil-affected towards their brethren.

Verse [Proverbs 6:20](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/20). ***Keep thy father's commandment*** — See on [Proverbs 1:8](../../../kjv/proverbs/1/8).

Verse [Proverbs 6:21](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/21). ***Bind them continually upon thine heart*** — See on [Proverbs 3:3](../../../kjv/proverbs/3/3). And see a similar command, to which this is an allusion, [Deuteronomy 6:6-8](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/6/6-8).

Verse [Proverbs 6:22](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/22). ***When thou goest, it shall lead thee*** — Here the *law* is *personified*; and is represented as a nurse, teacher, and guardian, by night and day. An upright man never *goes* but as directed by God's word and led by God's Spirit.
***When thou sleepest*** — He commends his body and soul to the protection of his Maker when he lies down and sleeps in peace. And when he awakes in the morning, the promises and mercies of God are the first things that present themselves to his recollection.

Verse [Proverbs 6:23](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/23). ***For the commandment*****is*****a lamp*** — It illuminates our path. It shows us how *we should walk and praise God*.
***And the law*****is*****light*** — A *general light*, showing the *nature* and *will* of GOD, and the *interest* and *duty* of MAN.
***And reproofs of instruction*** — Or, that instruction which reproves us for our sins and errors leads us into the way of life.

Verse [Proverbs 6:24](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/24). ***To keep thee from the evil woman*** — Solomon had suffered sorely from this quarter; and hence his repeated cautions and warnings to others. The *strange woman* always means one that is not a man's own; and sometimes it may also imply a *foreign harlot*, one who is also a *stranger* to the God of Israel.

Verse [Proverbs 6:25](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/25). ***Neither let her take thee with her eye-lids.*** — It is a very general custom in the East to *paint the eye-lids*. I have many Asiatic drawings in which this is expressed. They have a method of *polishing the eyes* with a preparation of *antimony*, so that they appear with an indescribable lustre; or, as one who mentions the fact from observation, "Their eyes appear to be swimming in bliss."

Verse [Proverbs 6:26](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/26). ***By means of a whorish woman*** — In following lewd women, a man is soon reduced to poverty and disease. The *Septuagint* gives this a strange turn: τιμη γαρ πορνης, οση και ενος αρτου. "For the price or hire of a whore is about one loaf." So *many* were they in the land, that they hired themselves out for a *bare subsistence*. The *Vulgate, Syriac*, and *Arabic*, give the same sense. The old MS. Bible has it thus: *The price forsothe of a strumpet is unneth oon* *lof: the woman forsothe taketh the precious liif of a man*. The sense of which is, and probably the sense of the *Hebrew* too, While the man hires the whore for a *single loaf* of bread; the woman thus hired taketh his *precious life*. She extracts his energy, and poisons his constitution. In the first clause אשה זונה *ishshah* *zonah* is plainly a *prostitute*; but should we render אשת *esheth,* in the second clause, an *adulteress*? I think not. The versions in general join אשת איש *esheth ish*, together, which, thus connected, signify no more than *the wife of a man*; and out of this we have made *adulteress*, and *Coverdale* a *married woman*. I do not think that the Old MS. Bible gives a good sense; and it requires a good deal of paraphrase to extract the common meaning from the text. Though the following verses seem to countenance the common interpretation, yet they may contain a complete sense of themselves; but, taken in either way, the sense is good, though the construction is a little violent.

Verse [Proverbs 6:27](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/27). ***Can a man take fire*** — These were proverbial expressions, the meaning of which was plain to every capacity.

Verse [Proverbs 6:29](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/29). ***So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife*** — As sure as he who takes *fire into his bosom*, or who *walks* upon *live coals,* is burnt thereby; so sure he that seduces his neighbour's wife *shall be guilty*. That is, he shall be punished.

Verse [Proverbs 6:30](../../../kjv/proverbs/6/30). ***Men do not despise a thief if he steal*** — Every man pities the poor culprit who was perishing for lack of food, and stole to *satisfy his hunger*; yet no law *clears* him: he is bound to make restitution; in some cases *double*, in others *quadruple* and *quintuple*; and if he have not property enough to make restitution, to be sold for a *bondsman*; [Exodus 22:1-4](../../../kjv/exodus/22/1-4); [Leviticus 25:39](../../../kjv/leviticus/25/39).

Verse 32. **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 his* *neighbour*.
***Destroyeth his own soul.*** — Sins against *his life*, for, under the law of Moses, adultery was punished with *death*; [Leviticus 20:10](../../../kjv/leviticus/20/10); [Deuteronomy 22:22](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/22/22).

Verse 33. ***A wound and dishonour shall he get*** — Among the *Romans*, when a man was caught in the fact, the injured husband took the law into his own hand; and a large *radish* was thrust up into the anus of the transgressor, which not only overwhelmed him with infamy and disgrace, but generally caused his death.

Verse 34. ***Jealousy*****is*****the rage of a man: therefore he will not**********spare*** — He will not, when he has detected the adulterer in the fact, wait for the slow progress of the law: it is then to him the *day of vengeance*; and in general, he avenges himself on the spot, as we see above.

Verse 35. ***He will not regard any ransom*** — This is an injury that admits of *no compensation*. No *gifts* can satisfy a man for the injury his honour has sustained; and to take a *bribe* or a *ransom*, would be setting up *chastity* at a price.

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