Proverbs 6:32

32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.

Proverbs 6:32 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
English Standard Version (ESV)
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
New Living Translation (NLT)
32 But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself.
The Message Bible (MSG)
32 Adultery is a brainless act, soul-destroying, self-destructive;
American Standard Version (ASV)
32 He that committeth adultery with a woman is void of understanding: He doeth it who would destroy his own soul.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
32 Whoever commits adultery with a woman has no sense. Whoever does this destroys himself.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
32 The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
32 A man who commits adultery has no sense. Anyone who does it destroys himself.

Proverbs 6:32 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 6:32

[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" F20; 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 destroyeth his own soul;
is liable to have his life taken away by the husband of the adulteress; so according to Solon's law F21 the adulterer taken in the act might be killed by the husband: or by the civil magistrate; for according to the law of. Moses he was to die, either to be strangled or stoned, (See Gill on John 8:5); and besides, he not only ruins the natural faculties of his soul, besotting, corrupting, and depraving that, giving his heart to a whore, but brings eternal destruction on it; yet so foolish is he, though it issues in the ruin of his precious soul; "he does this" F23, for so the first part of this clause, which stands last in the original text, may be rendered.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 (bl rox) "deficit corde", Pagninus, Montanus; "caret corde", Mercerus, Gejerus; so Michaelis.
F21 Plutarch. in Vita Solon. p. 90.
F23 (hnvey awh) "ipse faeiet illud", Montanus; "ipse faciet hoc", so some in Vatablus; "is id faciet, sive facit", Cocceius; "ille facit id", Michaelis; "is patrabit illud", Schultens.

Proverbs 6:32 In-Context

30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

Cross References 2

  • 1. S Exodus 20:14
  • 2. Proverbs 7:7; Proverbs 9:4,16
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