Amsal 7:24-27

7:24 So now, sons, ¹  listen to me,

and pay attention to the words I speak. ² 

7:25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways –

do not wander into her pathways;

7:26 for she has brought down ³  many fatally wounded,

and all those she has slain are many. ⁴ 

7:27 Her house is the way to the grave, ⁵ 

going down ⁶  to the chambers ⁷  of death.

[7:24]  ¹ tn The literal translation “sons” works well here in view of the warning. Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “children.”

[7:24]  ² tn Heb “the words of my mouth.”

[7:26]  ³ tn Heb “she has caused to fall.”

[7:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “numerous” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT) or “countless.”

[7:27]  ⁵ tn The noun “Sheol” in parallelism to “the chambers of death” probably means the grave. The noun is a genitive of location, indicating the goal of the road(s). Her house is not the grave; it is, however, the sure way to it.

[7:27]  sn Her house is the way to the grave. The young man’s life is not destroyed in one instant; it is taken from him gradually as he enters into a course of life that will leave him as another victim of the wages of sin. The point of the warning is to prevent such a course from starting. Sin can certainly be forgiven, but the more involvement in this matter the greater the alienation from the healthy community.

[7:27]  ⁶ tn The Qal active participle modifies “ways” to Sheol. The “road,” as it were, descends to the place of death.

[7:27]  ⁷ tn “Chambers” is a hypocatastasis, comparing the place of death or the grave with a bedroom in the house. It plays on the subtlety of the temptation. Cf. NLT “Her bedroom is the den of death.”