Proverbs 6 · Verse 26

Proverbs 6:26

For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
Proverbs 6:26, King James Version

Proverbs 6:26 in other translations

BSBFor the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.
WEBFor a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.
ASVFor on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread; And the adulteress hunteth for the precious life.
YLTFor a harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth.
DARBYfor by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a loaf of bread, and another's wife doth hunt for the precious soul.
BBEFor a loose woman is looking for a cake of bread, but another man's wife goes after one's very life.
WebsterFor by means of a lewd woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

What does Proverbs 6:26 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
26. The supplied words give a better sense than the old version: "The price of a whore is a piece of bread." adulteress--(Compare Margin), which the parallel and context (Pr 6:29-35) sustain. Of similar results of this sin, compare Pr 5:9-12. will hunt--alluding to the snares spread by harlots (compare Pr 7:6-8). precious life--more valuable than all else.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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: timh gar pornhv, osh kai enov artou. "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 mam. 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Proverbs 6:20-35

The word of God has something to say to us upon all occasions. Let not faithful reproofs ever make us uneasy. When we consider how much this sin abounds, how heinous adultery is in its own nature, of what evil consequence it is, and how certainly it destroys the spiritual life in the soul, we shall not wonder that the cautions against it are so often repeated. Let us notice the subjects of this chapter. Let us…

Read the full comment on Proverbs 6:20-35 →

Proverbs 6:26 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּ֤יkiforH3588
בְעַד\־ve.'ad-[the] priceH1157
אִשָּׁ֥ה'i.Shaha womanH802
זוֹנָ֗הzo.Naha prostituteH2181
עַֽד\־'ad-toH5704
כִּכַּ֫רki.Kara round loaf ofH3603
לָ֥חֶםLa.chembreadH3899
וְאֵ֥שֶׁתve.'E.shetand [the] wife ofH802
אִ֑ישׁ'Isha manH376
נֶ֖פֶשׁNe.fesha lifeH5315
יְקָרָ֣הye.ka.RahpreciousH3368
תָצֽוּד\׃\ \פta.Tzudshe huntsH6679

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Proverbs 6:26

  • Luke 15:30

    But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

  • Proverbs 29:3

    Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.

  • Genesis 39:14

    That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:

  • 1 Samuel 2:36

    And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

  • Ezekiel 13:18

    And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?

  • Proverbs 29:8

    Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.

  • Proverbs 5:10

    Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

  • Proverbs 7:23

    Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.

  • Luke 15:13-15

    And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

  • Ezekiel 13:8

    Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
by.
5:10; 29:3,8; Lu 15:13-15,30
a piece.
1Sa 2:36
the adulteress. Heb. the woman of a man, or, a man's wife.hunt.
Ge 39:14; Eze 13:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Proverbs 6:25

    Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

  • Proverbs 6:26

    For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

  • Proverbs 6:27

    Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

Read all of Proverbs 6

Proverbs 6:26 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque á causa de la mujer ramera es reducido el hombre á un bocado de pan; y la mujer caza la preciosa alma del varón.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		car par la femme prostituée on en vient jusqu’à un morceau de pain, et la femme d’autrui chasse après l’âme précieuse.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn um eines hurerischen Weibes willen kommt man bis auf einen Laib Brot, und eines Mannes Weib stellt einer kostbaren Seele nach. -
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		pretium enim scorti vix est unius panis, mulier autem viri pretiosam animam capit.