Proverbs 6:26
New International Version
For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.

New Living Translation
For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.

English Standard Version
for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.

Berean Standard Bible
For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

New American Standard Bible
For the price of a prostitute reduces one to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for a precious life.

NASB 1995
For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.

NASB 1977
For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.

Legacy Standard Bible
For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.

Amplified Bible
For on account of a prostitute one is reduced to a piece of bread [to be eaten up], And the immoral woman hunts [with a hook] the precious life [of a man].

Christian Standard Bible
For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man goes after a precious life.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but an adulteress goes after a precious life.

American Standard Version
For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread; And the adulteress hunteth for the precious life.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For the comparison of a woman who is a harlot is like a loaf of bread, and a man's wife hunts the precious soul.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For the value of a harlot is as much as of one loaf; and a woman hunts for the precious souls of men.

Contemporary English Version
A woman who sells her love can be bought for as little as the price of a meal. But making love to another man's wife will cost you everything.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For the price of a harlot is scarce one loaf: but the woman catcheth the precious soul of a man.

English Revised Version
For on account of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress hunteth for the precious life.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
A prostitute's price is [only] a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts for [your] life itself.

Good News Translation
A man can hire a prostitute for the price of a loaf of bread, but adultery will cost him all he has.

International Standard Version
because the price of a whore is a loaf of bread, and an adulterous woman stalks a man's precious life.

JPS Tanakh 1917
For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a loaf of bread, But the adulteress hunteth for the precious life.

Literal Standard Version
For a harlot consumes to a cake of bread, | And an adulteress hunts the precious soul.

Majority Standard Bible
For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

New American Bible
For the price of a harlot may be scarcely a loaf of bread, But a married woman is a trap for your precious life.

NET Bible
for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man preys on your precious life.

New Revised Standard Version
for a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but the wife of another stalks a man’s very life.

New Heart English Bible
For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

Webster's Bible Translation
For by means of a lewd woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

World English Bible
For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

Young's Literal Translation
For a harlot consumeth unto a cake of bread, And an adulteress the precious soul hunteth.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Warnings Against Adultery
25Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. 26For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. 27Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?…

Cross References
Proverbs 5:9
lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;

Proverbs 5:10
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

Proverbs 6:27
Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

Proverbs 7:23
until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare--not knowing it will cost him his life.

Proverbs 23:28
Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.

Proverbs 29:3
A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

Ezekiel 13:18
and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their wrists and make veils for the heads of people of every height, in order to ensnare their souls. Will you ensnare the souls of My people but preserve your own?


Treasury of Scripture

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.

by

Proverbs 5:10
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

Proverbs 29:3,8
Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance…

Luke 15:13-15,30
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…

a piece

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.

the adulteress

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:

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.

Jump to Previous
Account Adulteress Another's Bread Cake Consumeth Goes Harlot Hired Hunt Hunteth Hunts Life Means Piece Precious Preys Prostitute Reduced Reduces Stalks Whorish Wife
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Account Adulteress Another's Bread Cake Consumeth Goes Harlot Hired Hunt Hunteth Hunts Life Means Piece Precious Preys Prostitute Reduced Reduces Stalks Whorish Wife
Proverbs 6
1. against indebtedness
6. idleness
12. and mischievousness
16. seven things detestable to God
20. the blessings of obedience
25. the mischief of unfaithfulness














Verse 26. - For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread. From this verse onwards to the end of the chapter the discourse consists of a series of arguments, each calculated to deter youth from the sins of fornication and adultery, by exhibiting the evil consequences of such indulgence. The first is the poverty and extreme beggary to which a man is brought. For by means of; Hebrew, ki v'ad. Lee gives the preposition vaad the force of "after," i.e. after associating with. The radical idea of the preposition is that of nearness, by, near, and easily passes to that of "because" (Gesenius) or "by means of," as in the Authorized Version. It is here used for per, "through," as in Joshua 2:15; 2 Samuel 20:23, and so indicates the transit through the way of fornication to extreme beggary (Gejerus). A whorish woman; Hebrew, ishshah zonah; Vulgate, scortum; LXX., πόρνη; "a harlot," here corresponding to "the adulteress" (esheth ish), since the root zonah, "to commit fornication," is attributed both to married and unmarried women (Genesis 38:24; Leo. 19:29; Hosea 3:3). The word zonah is sometimes written alone, as in Genesis 38:15 and Deuteronomy 23:19. The fuller expression, as here, occurs in Leviticus 21:7; Joshua 2:1; Judges 11:1. To a piece of bread; Hebrew, adkikkar lakhem. It will be noticed that there is an ellipsis in the Hebrew, which, however, may be easily supplied, as in the Authorized Version. Delitzsch supplies "one cometh down to;" so Zockler. "A piece of bread' is properly "a circle of bread, a small round piece of bread, such as is still baked in Italy (pagnotta) and in the East (Arabic kurs), here an expression for the smallest piece" (Fleischer). The term occurs in Exodus 29:23; 1 Samuel 2:36, in the latter of which passages it expresses the extreme destitution to which the members of the house of Eli were to be reduced. As illustrating the term, see also ch. 38:21 and Ezekiel 13:19. The LXX. and Vulgate singularly render, "For the price of a harlot is scarcely that of a bit of bread," which may mean, as Castalio, that she is of so little value; but the context is opposed to this rendering, where the Point brought out is not the vile character of the harlot as the ruin she inflicts or is the cause cf. Besides, the Hebrew ad does not mean ever "scarcely," or "hardly," which the Vulgate vix gives to it. And the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. The adulteress is isheth ish, literally, "the woman of a man," or "a man's wife," as in the margin - as, therefore, strictly an adulteress here (cf. Leviticus 20:10). Will hunt; Hebrew, thatsud; LXX., ἀγρεύει; Vulgate, capit. The Hebrew verb tsud, "to lie in wait for," "to hunt," also signifies "to take, or capture," like the Vulgate capere, The verb in its metaphorical use also occurs in Lamentations 3:52; Micah 7:2; Psalm 140:12, and refers to those beguilements resorted to by the adulteress to seduce youth. In Ezekiel 13:18 it carries with it the idea of death, and if understood in this sense here it may have reference to the death penalty inflicted on adulterer and adulteress by the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 20:10), and introduces what is said more fully in vers. 32, 34, 35. The precious life; Hebrew, nephesh y'karah The epithet y'karah is appropriately added to nephesh, as indicating the high value of the life. All is implied in the nephesh, "the life," moral dignity of character, the soul of man. It is the ever-existing part of the man, and therefore is precious - nothing can exceed it in value. Our Lord says (Matthew 16:26), "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" and the psalmist (Psalm 49:8), "For the redemption of their life is precious." But it is for this life, or soul, that the adulteress hunts, and which she destroys. Lives of fornication and adultery, therefore, carry with them the severest penalties, the loss of temporal possessions, for the enjoyment of a transient passion, and far beyond this the loss of life both temporal and eternal. We cannot imagine a more deterrent warning.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
For
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

the levy
בְעַד־ (ḇə·‘aḏ-)
Preposition
Strong's 1157: In up to, over against, at, beside, among, behind, for

of the prostitute
זוֹנָ֗ה (zō·w·nāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2181: To commit adultery, to commit idolatry

is poverty,
כִּכַּ֫ר (kik·kar)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3603: A round, a round district, a round loaf, a round weight, a talent (a measure of weight or money)

and the adulteress
וְאֵ֥שֶׁת (wə·’ê·šeṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

preys upon
תָצֽוּד׃ (ṯā·ṣūḏ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 6679: To lie alongside, to catch an animal, to victual

your very
יְקָרָ֣ה (yə·qā·rāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 3368: Precious, rare, splendid, weighty

life.
נֶ֖פֶשׁ (ne·p̄eš)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 6:26 For a prostitute reduces you to (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 6:25
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