Proverbs 5:6
New International Version
She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.

New Living Translation
For she cares nothing about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it.

English Standard Version
she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

Berean Standard Bible
She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

King James Bible
Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

New King James Version
Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them.

New American Standard Bible
She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

NASB 1995
She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

NASB 1977
She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

Legacy Standard Bible
Lest she watch the path of life; Her tracks are unstable, she does not know it.

Amplified Bible
So that she does not think [seriously] about the path of life; Her ways are aimless and unstable; you cannot know where her path leads.

Christian Standard Bible
She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

American Standard Version
So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, and she knoweth it not.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And she treads not in the way of life, for her paths lead them astray and they are unknown.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.

Contemporary English Version
She has missed the path that leads to life and doesn't even know it.

Douay-Rheims Bible
They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.

English Revised Version
So that she findeth not the level path of life: her ways are unstable and she knoweth it not.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
She doesn't even think about the path of life. Her steps wander, and she doesn't realize it.

Good News Translation
She does not stay on the road to life; but wanders off, and does not realize what is happening.

International Standard Version
You aren't thinking about where her life is headed; her steps wander, but you do not realize it.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Lest she should walk the even path of life, Her ways wander, but she knoweth it not.

Literal Standard Version
The path of life—lest you ponder, | Her paths have moved—you do not know.

Majority Standard Bible
She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

New American Bible
Her paths ramble, you know not where, lest you see before you the road to life.

NET Bible
Lest she should make level the path leading to life, her paths are unstable but she does not know it.

New Revised Standard Version
She does not keep straight to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

New Heart English Bible
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.

Webster's Bible Translation
Lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them.

World English Bible
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.

Young's Literal Translation
The path of life -- lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths -- thou knowest not.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Avoiding Immorality
5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. 6She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable. 7So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.…

Cross References
2 Peter 2:14
Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

Proverbs 2:19
None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life.

Proverbs 4:26
Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure.

Proverbs 5:21
For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.

Proverbs 9:13
The woman named Folly is loud; she is naive and knows nothing.

Proverbs 30:20
This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, 'I have done nothing wrong.'


Treasury of Scripture

Lest you should ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that you can not know them.

ponder

Proverbs 4:26
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

Psalm 119:59
I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.

the path

Proverbs 11:19
As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.

Psalm 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

her

Proverbs 6:12,13
A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth…

Proverbs 7:10-21
And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart…

2 Thessalonians 2:9,10
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, …

Jump to Previous
Crooked Findeth Gives Heed Keeps Life Mind Movable Moved Path Paths Ponder Road Shouldest Shouldst Thought Uncertain Unstable Walk Wander Way Ways Whither
Jump to Next
Crooked Findeth Gives Heed Keeps Life Mind Movable Moved Path Paths Ponder Road Shouldest Shouldst Thought Uncertain Unstable Walk Wander Way Ways Whither
Proverbs 5
1. Solomon exhorts to wisdom
3. He shows the mischief of unfaithfulness and riot
15. He exhorts to contentedness, generosity, and chastity
22. The wicked are overtaken with their own sins














(6) Lest thou shouldest ponder . . .--The meaning of the English version appears to be, "To prevent thy choosing the path of life, she leads thee by devious paths that thou knowest not where thou art." It may also be rendered, "Far from smoothing for herself the path of life, her steps wander without her observing it." By these words is described the reckless career of a vicious woman, who at last dares not think whither her steps are leading her, but as it were with eyes shut, totters on till she falls to rise no more.

Verse 6. - Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them. This verse should be rather rendered, she walks not in the path of life, her ways fiuctuate, she knows not. It consists of a series of independent proposiyions or statements, all of which are descriptive of the singularly fatuous conduct of "the strange woman." In the previous verse the teacher has said that her conduct leads to ruin; he here further emphasizes the idea by putting forward the same truth from the opposite, or, as we may say, from the negative point of view, and so completes the picture. "The words," as Plumptre remarks, "describe with terrible vividness the state of heart and soul which prostitution brings on its victims." Her course is one o(persistent, wilful, headstrong, blind folly and wickedness. Lest; pen; here "not," equivalent to לא (lo). So the LXX., Vulgate, Targum, Syriac. The use of pen, in this sense is, however, unique (Gesenius). Delitzsch and Zockler, following Luther, Geier, Holden, etc., assign to it an emphatic negative force, as, "She is far removed from entering," or, "she never treadeth." Others take pen as a dependent prohibitive particle, equivalent to the Latin ne forte, "lest," as in the Authorized Version, and employed to connect the sentence which it introduces either with the preceding verse (as Schultens) or with the second hemistich, on which it is made dependent (Holden, Wordsworth, Aben Ezra, loc., Michaelis, etc.). Thou shouldest ponder; t'phalles, connected by makkeph with pen, as usual (Lee), is either second person masculine or third person feminine. The latter is required here, the subject of the sentence being "the strange woman," as appears clearly from the second hemistich, "her ways," etc. The verb patas (cf. Proverbs 14:26) here means "to prepare," i.e. to walk in, or to travel over. Thus Gesenius renders, "She (the adulteress) prepareth not (for herself) the way of life:" i.e. she does not walk in the way of life; cf. the LXX. εἰσέρχεται, Vulgate ambulant (sc. gressus ejus), and other ancient versions, all of which understand the verb in this sense. The meaning of the phrase, pen t'phalles, is, therefore, "she walks not" in the way of life - the way that has life for its object, and which in itself is full of life and safety. Far from doing this, the teacher goes on to say, her ways are movable; literally, go to and fro, or fluctuate; i.e. they wilfully stagger hither and thither, like the steps of a drunkard, or like the uncertain steps of the blind, for the verb nua is so used in the former sense in Isaiah 24:20; Isaiah 29:9; Psalm 107:27; and in the latter in Lamentations 4:14. Her steps are slippery (LXX., σφαλέραι), or wander (Vulgate, vagi); they are without any definite aim; she is always straying in the vagrancy of sin (Wordsworth); cf. Proverbs 7:12. That thou canst not know them (lo theda); literally, she knows not. The elliptical form of this sentence in the original leaves it open to various interpretations. It seems to refer to the way of life; she knows not the way of life, i.e. she does not regard or perceive the way of life. The verb yada often has this meaning. The meaning may be obtained by supplying mah, equivalent to quicquam, "anything," as in Proverbs 9:13, "She knows not anything," i.e. she knows nothing. The objection to this is that it travels unnecessarily out of the sentence to find the object which ought rather to be supplied from the context. The object may possibly be the staggering of her feet: she staggers hither and thither without her perceiving it (Delitzsch); or it may, lastly, be indefinite: she knows not whittler her steps conduct her (Wordsworth and Zockler).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
She does not
פֶּן־ (pen-)
Conjunction
Strong's 6435: Removal, lest

consider
תְּפַלֵּ֑ס (tə·p̄al·lês)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 6424: To roll flat, prepare, to revolve, weigh

the path
אֹ֣רַח (’ō·raḥ)
Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 734: A well-trodden road, a caravan

of life;
חַ֭יִּים (ḥay·yîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life

she does not
לֹ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

know that
תֵדָֽע׃ (ṯê·ḏā‘)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3045: To know

her ways
מַ֝עְגְּלֹתֶ֗יהָ (ma‘·gə·lō·ṯe·hā)
Noun - feminine plural construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 4570: An entrenchment, track

are unstable.
נָע֥וּ (nā·‘ū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5128: To quiver, wave, waver, tremble, totter


Links
Proverbs 5:6 NIV
Proverbs 5:6 NLT
Proverbs 5:6 ESV
Proverbs 5:6 NASB
Proverbs 5:6 KJV

Proverbs 5:6 BibleApps.com
Proverbs 5:6 Biblia Paralela
Proverbs 5:6 Chinese Bible
Proverbs 5:6 French Bible
Proverbs 5:6 Catholic Bible

OT Poetry: Proverbs 5:6 She gives no thought to the way (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 5:5
Top of Page
Top of Page