Proverbs 30:20

20 “This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

Proverbs 30:20 in Other Translations

20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

20 This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, "I have done no wrong."

20 An adulterous woman consumes a man, then wipes her mouth and says, “What’s wrong with that?”

20 Here's how a prostitute operates: she has sex with her client, Takes a bath, then asks, "Who's next?" Four Intolerables

20 So is the way of an adulterous woman; She eateth, and wipeth her mouth, And saith, I have done no wickedness.

20 This is the way of a woman who commits adultery: She eats, wipes her mouth, and says, "I haven't done anything wrong!"

20 This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, "I've done nothing wrong."

20 "This is the way of a woman who commits adultery. She eats. She wipes her mouth. Then she says, 'I haven't done anything wrong.'

Proverbs 30:20 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 30:20

Such [is] the way of an adulterous woman
It is equally unknown as the way of a man with a maid; it is difficult to detect her, she takes so much care and caution, and uses so many artful methods to conceal her wickedness from her husband; though she lives in adultery, it is in a most private manner, and carried on so secretly and artfully that she is not easily discovered; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth;
like one that eats what he should not, wipes his mouth that it might not be known or suspected he had ate anything; so such an adulteress commits the sin of adultery; and when she has done looks as grave and demure, and carries it so to her husband and all her friends, as if she was the chastest person upon earth. The allusion may be to harlots, who after an impure congress used to wash themselves ^F1, and had servants to wait upon them and serve them with water, called from hence "aquarioli" ^F2; and saith, I have done no wickedness;
she says by her behaviour, by her demure looks; and if suspected and challenged with it utterly denies it. This is an emblem of the antichristian whore of Rome, who, though the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth; though guilty of the foulest adultery, that is, the grossest idolatry, yet pretends to be the pure and chaste spouse of Christ; and, under the guise of purity and holiness, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, seduces the minds of many; see ( Revelation 17:1 Revelation 17:5 ) ( 2 Thessalonians 2:10 2 Thessalonians 2:11 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 "Dedecus hoc sumpta dissimulavit aqua", Ovid. Amor. l. 3. Eleg. 6. in fine.
F2 Tertull. Apolog. c. 43. Vid. Turnebi Adversar. l. 14. c. 12.

Proverbs 30:20 In-Context

18 “There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand:

19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman.

20 “This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

21 “Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:

22 a servant who becomes king, a godless fool who gets plenty to eat,

Cross References

• 1. Proverbs 5:6