Amsal 7:8

7:8 He was passing by the street near her corner,

making his way ¹  along the road to her house ² 

Amsal 20:17

20:17 Bread gained by deceit ³  tastes sweet to a person, ⁴ 

but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel. ⁵ 

[7:8]  ¹ tn The verb צָעַד (tsa’ad) means “to step; to march.” It suggests that the youth was intentionally making his way to her house. The verb is the imperfect tense; it stresses continual action parallel to the active participle that began the verse, but within a context that is past time.

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “way of her house.” This expression uses an adverbial accusative of location, telling where he was marching along. The term “house” is the genitive of location, giving the goal.

[20:17]  ³ tn Heb “bread of deceit” (so KJV, NAB). This refers to food gained through dishonest means. The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific for general, referring to anything obtained by fraud, including food.

[20:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “a man.”

[20:17]  ⁵ sn The image of food and eating is carried throughout the proverb. Food taken by fraud seems sweet at first, but afterward it is not. To end up with a mouth full of gravel (a mass of small particles; e.g., Job 20:14-15; Lam 3:16) implies by comparison that what has been taken by fraud will be worthless and useless and certainly in the way (like food turning into sand and dirt).