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Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Proverbs 7:23

or like a bird rushing into a trap, not knowing its life is at stake till an arrow pierces its liver.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Adultery;   Blindness;   Harlot (Prostitute);   Ignorance;   Lasciviousness;   Temptation;   Women;   Young Men;   The Topic Concordance - Whoredom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Birds;   Flattery;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Birds;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Fornication;   Men;   Wisdom;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Fool, Foolishness, Folly;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Evil Speaking;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Bird;   Fowler;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Bird;   Delilah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Dart;   Gestures;   Proverbs, Book of;   Sex, Biblical Teaching on;   Song of Solomon;   Soul;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Liver;   Medicine;   Proverbs, Book of;   Snares;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Dart;   Liver;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Dart;   Snare;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Dart;   Liver;   Snare;   Strike;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Chastity;   Divination;   Judaism;   Liver;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
until an arrow pierces its liver,like a bird darting into a snare—he doesn’t know it will cost him his life.
Hebrew Names Version
Until an arrow strikes through his liver, As a bird hurries to the snare, And doesn't know that it will cost his life.
King James Version
Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
English Standard Version
till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
New Century Version
and shot through the liver with an arrow. Like a bird caught in a trap, he didn't know what he did would kill him.
New English Translation
till an arrow pierces his liver— like a bird hurrying into a trap, and he does not know that it will cost him his life.
Amplified Bible
Until an arrow pierced his liver [with a mortal wound]; Like a bird fluttering straight into the net, He did not know that it would cost him his life.
New American Standard Bible
Until an arrow pierces through his liver; As a bird hurries to the snare, So he does not know that it will cost him his life.
World English Bible
Until an arrow strikes through his liver, As a bird hurries to the snare, And doesn't know that it will cost his life.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Till a dart strike through his liuer, as a bird hasteth to the snare, not knowing that he is in danger.
Legacy Standard Bible
Until an arrow pierces through his liver;As a bird hastens to the snare,And he does not know that it will cost him his soul.
Berean Standard Bible
until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare-not knowing it will cost him his life.
Contemporary English Version
and killed with arrows. He was no more than a bird rushing into a trap, without knowing it would cost him his life.
Darby Translation
till an arrow strike through his liver: as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for its life.
Easy-to-Read Version
where a hunter waits to shoot an arrow through its heart. The boy was like a bird flying into a net, never seeing the danger he was in.
George Lamsa Translation
And as a stag whose liver is pierced with an arrow, as a bird hastens to the snare, and does not know that he goes to his death.
Good News Translation
where an arrow would pierce its heart. He was like a bird going into a net—he did not know that his life was in danger.
Lexham English Bible
until an arrow pierces his entrails, like a bird rushing into a snare, but he does not know that it will cost him his life.
Literal Translation
until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare, and not knowing that it is for his soul.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
so longe till she hath wounded his lyuer with hir darte: like as yf a byrde haisted to the snare, not knowinge that the parell of his life lyeth there vpo.
American Standard Version
Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life.
Bible in Basic English
Like a bird falling into a net; with no thought that his life is in danger, till an arrow goes into his side.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteneth to the snare--
King James Version (1611)
Til a dart strike through his liuer, as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
So long tyll she had wounded his lyuer with her dart: lyke as if a byrde hasted to the snare, not knowing that the perill of his life lieth thervpon.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and he hastens as a bird into a snare, not knowing that he is running for his life.
English Revised Version
Till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
til an arowe perse his mawe. As if a brid hastith to the snare; and woot not, that it is don of the perel of his lijf.
Update Bible Version
Until an arrow strikes through his liver; As a bird hurries to the snare, And does not know that it is for his life.
Webster's Bible Translation
Till a dart striketh through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his life.
New King James Version
Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would cost his life.
New Living Translation
awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life.
New Life Bible
until an arrow cuts through him. Like a bird that hurries into the net, he does not know that he will lose his life.
New Revised Standard
until an arrow pierces its entrails. He is like a bird rushing into a snare, not knowing that it will cost him his life.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Until an arrow cleaveth his liver, as a bird hasteth into a snare, and knoweth not, that, for his life, it is!
Douay-Rheims Bible
Till the arrow pierce his liver: as if a bird should make haste to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger.
Revised Standard Version
till an arrow pierces its entrails; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
Young's Literal Translation
Till an arrow doth split his liver, As a bird hath hastened unto a snare, And hath not known that it [is] for its life.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Until an arrow pierces through his liver; As a bird hastens to the snare, So he does not know that it will cost him his life.

Contextual Overview

6 For I was at the window of my house, glancing out through the lattice, 7 when I saw among the young men there, among those who don't think for themselves, a young fellow devoid of all sense. 8 He crosses the street near her corner and continues on toward her house. 9 Dusk turns into evening, and finally night, dark and black. 10 Then a woman approaches him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. 11 She's the coarse, impulsive type, whose feet don't stay at home; 12 rather, she stalks the streets and squares, lurking at every streetcorner. 13 She grabs him, gives him a kiss, and, brazen-faced, she says to him, 14 "I had to offer peace sacrifices, and I fulfilled my vows today. 15 This is why I came out to meet you, to look for you; now I've found you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a dart: Numbers 25:8, Numbers 25:9

as a bird: Proverbs 1:17, Ecclesiastes 9:12

knoweth: Proverbs 9:18

Reciprocal: Exodus 13:9 - a sign Esther 5:12 - to morrow Job 20:24 - strike him Psalms 91:3 - snare Proverbs 5:4 - her Proverbs 5:11 - thou Proverbs 6:32 - destroyeth Proverbs 11:19 - he Proverbs 13:20 - but Proverbs 22:3 - the simple Proverbs 26:18 - arrows Isaiah 55:2 - Hearken

Cross-References

Genesis 7:1
(ii) Adonai said to Noach, "Come into the ark, you and all your household; for I have seen that you alone in this generation are righteous before me.
Genesis 7:8
Of clean animals, of animals that are not clean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,
Genesis 7:9
couples, male and female, went in to Noach in the ark, as God had ordered Noach.
Genesis 7:10
After seven days the water flooded the earth.
Genesis 7:14
they, and every animal of every species, all the livestock of every species, every animal that creeps on the ground of every species, and every bird of every species — all sorts of winged creatures.
Genesis 7:15
They went in to Noach in the ark, couples from every kind of living thing that breathes.
Genesis 7:17
(iii) The flood was forty days on the earth; the water grew higher and floated the ark, so that it was lifted up off the earth.
Genesis 7:18
The water overflowed the earth and grew deeper, until the ark floated on the surface of the water.
Genesis 7:20
the water covered the mountains by more than twenty-two-and-a-half feet.
Genesis 7:21
All living beings that moved on the earth perished — birds, livestock, other animals, insects, and every human being,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Till a dart strike through his liver,.... The fountain of blood, and so of life; which, being pierced through and poured out, is certain death, Lamentations 2:11; the meaning is, till he is slain either by the hand of God, or by the civil magistrate, or by the jealous husband; and be thrust through by him, as Zimri and Cozbi were by Phinehas. The "liver" may be particularly mentioned, not only for the reason before given, but because it is the seat of lust l; so he is stricken in the part where his lust begins, where he has been smitten by Cupid's darts: or this dart through the liver may denote some disease, infecting the blood through sinful lust. The Targum is,

"as an hart into whose liver an arrow flies;''

or is wounded by an arrow in the liver, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions: and so the meaning is, that this young man went as swiftly after the harlot as a hart does when it is wounded;

as a bird hasteth to the snare; it has its eye upon the bait, and flies swiftly to that, insensible of the snare that is laid for it;

and knoweth not that it [is] for his life; the bird knows not that the snare is set for its life, as Jarchi; or the fool knows not that it is for his soul; that it shall die, which hates correction, as Aben Ezra. The man that goes after the harlot knows not, or does not consider, that it is to the destruction of his precious and immortal soul; so the Targum,

"he knows not that it tends to the death of his soul;''

and to the same sense the Syriac and Arabic versions; the second death, which adulterers and idolaters shall have their part in, Revelation 21:8. The souls of men, and the ruin of them, are what the whore of Rome deals in, Revelation 18:13; she goes into perdition, into the bottomless pit, herself, and carries all her worshippers with her, Revelation 17:8.

l "Spleu ridere facit, cogit amare jecur", Ovid. "Si torrere jecur quaeris idoneum", Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 1. v. 12. "Cum tibi flagrans amor et libido saeviet circa jecur ulcerosum". lbid l. 1. Ode 25. v. 13, 15.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The first clause does not connect itself very clearly with the foregoing, and is probably affected by the corrupt text which makes it perplexing.


 
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