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Proverbs 2:16-19
New Catholic Bible
Proverbs 2:16-19
New Catholic Bible
16 You will be saved from the wife of another,
from the adulteress[a] with her seductive words,
17 who forsakes the partner of her youth
and forgets her sacred covenant with God.
18 For her house leads downward to death[b]
and her paths descend to the shades.
19 Anyone who goes to her never returns
or regains the paths of life.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 2:16 Wife of another . . . adulteress: literally, “stranger” and “foreigner” (see Prov 5:20; 7:5). The “immoral woman” (Prov 6:24) and “prostitute” (Prov 23:27) correspond to “wife of another.” The Prophets made use of the metaphor of adultery to indicate that the people had abandoned the true God to run after false gods—an apostasy that leads to the netherworld (see v. 18; 5:5-6; 7:26-27).
- Proverbs 2:18 Leads downward to death: see Prov 7:27: “Her house is the pathway to the netherworld.” Immorality leads to death (see Prov 5:5; 9:18).
