Proverbs 5:4
2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.
6 She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
- KJV
- But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
- WEB
- but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
- ASV
- But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
- DARBY
- but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
- BLB
- but her end [is] bitter as wormwood, sharp [with] mouths as a sword.
- ÅB
- men til sist er hun besk som malurt, hvass som et tveegget sverd.
- OTB
- men til slutt er hun så bitter som malurt, så skarp som et tveegget sverd.
- B1930
- men til sist er hun besk som malurt, hvass som et tveegget sverd.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Ecclesiastes 7:26
And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.
Read in contextPsalms 57:4
My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts— with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
Read in contextPsalms 55:21
His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.
Read in contextHebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Read in contextProverbs 9:18
But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Read in contextJudges 16:15–21
“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”
Read in contextHebrews 12:15–16
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
Read in contextProverbs 6:24–35
to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
Read in context