Lectionary Calendar
Monday, September 8th, 2025
the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Literal Standard Version

Proverbs 5:4

And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, || Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Adultery;   Harlot (Prostitute);   Lasciviousness;   Women;   Wormwood;   Young Men;   Thompson Chain Reference - Evil;   Temptresses;   Women;   Wormwood;   The Topic Concordance - Disobedience;   Whoredom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Arms, Military;   Sword, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Prostitution;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Hemlock;   Sword;   Wormwood;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Arms and Armor;   Plants in the Bible;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Wormwood;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Gall ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Hemlock;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs book of;   Wormwood;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Sword;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Wormwood;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bitter;   End;   Wormwood;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Chastity;   Sword;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
in the end she’s as bitter as wormwoodand as sharp as a double-edged sword.
Hebrew Names Version
But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, And as sharp as a two-edged sword.
King James Version
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
English Standard Version
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
New Century Version
But in the end she will bring you sorrow, causing you pain like a two-edged sword.
New English Translation
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Amplified Bible
But in the end she is bitter like [the extract of] wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
New American Standard Bible
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
World English Bible
But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, And as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Geneva Bible (1587)
But the end of her is bitter as wormewood, and sharpe as a two edged sworde.
Legacy Standard Bible
But her end is bitter as wormwood,Sharp as a two‑edged sword.
Berean Standard Bible
her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
Contemporary English Version
But all that you really get from being with her is bitter poison and pain.
Complete Jewish Bible
but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
Darby Translation
but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Easy-to-Read Version
But in the end, she will bring only bitterness and pain. It will be like bitter poison and a sharp sword.
George Lamsa Translation
But the end of her life is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Good News Translation
but when it is all over, she leaves you nothing but bitterness and pain.
Lexham English Bible
But her end is bitter as the wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Literal Translation
but afterwards, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a sword of mouths;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But at ye last she is as bitter as wormwod, and as sharpe as a two edged swerde.
American Standard Version
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Bible in Basic English
But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
King James Version (1611)
But her end is bitter as wormewood, sharpe as a two edged sword.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But at the laste she is as bitter as wormewood, and as sharpe as a two edged sworde.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
but afterwards thou wilt find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
English Revised Version
But her latter end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
but the last thingis ben bittir as wormod, and hir tunge is scharp as a swerd keruynge on ech side.
Update Bible Version
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Webster's Bible Translation
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
New King James Version
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
New Living Translation
But in the end she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword.
New Life Bible
But in the end she is as bitter tasting as wormwood, and as sharp as a sword that cuts both ways.
New Revised Standard
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, the latter end of her, is bitter as wormwood, sharp, as a two-edged sword!
Douay-Rheims Bible
But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
Revised Standard Version
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Young's Literal Translation
And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

Contextual Overview

1My son! Give attention to my wisdom, || Incline your ear to my understanding, 2To observe thoughtfulness, || And your lips keep knowledge. 3For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, || And her mouth [is] smoother than oil, 4And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, || Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.5Her feet are going down to death, || Her steps take hold of Sheol. 6The path of life—lest you ponder, || Her paths have moved—you do not know. 7And now, you sons, listen to me, || And do not turn from sayings of my mouth. 8Keep your way far from off her, || And do not come near to the opening of her house, 9Lest you give your splendor to others, || And your years to the fierce, 10Lest strangers be filled [with] your power, || And your labors in the house of a stranger,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

her: Proverbs 6:24-35, Proverbs 7:22, Proverbs 7:23, Proverbs 9:18, Proverbs 23:27, Proverbs 23:28, Ecclesiastes 7:26, Hebrews 12:15, Hebrews 12:16

sharp: Judges 16:4-6, Judges 16:15-21, Psalms 55:21, Hebrews 4:12

Reciprocal: Numbers 5:18 - the bitter water Numbers 5:27 - if she be defiled Proverbs 2:18 - General Proverbs 14:13 - General Revelation 8:11 - Wormwood

Cross-References

Genesis 1:28
And God blesses them, and God says to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over [the] fish of the sea, and over [the] bird of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping on the earth."
Genesis 5:1
This [is] an account of the generations of Adam. In the day of God's creating man, in the likeness of God He has made him;
Genesis 5:3
And Adam lives one hundred and thirty years [[or two hundred and thirty years]], and begets [a son] in his likeness, according to his image, and calls his name Seth.
Genesis 5:7
And Seth lives after his begetting Enos eight hundred and seven years [[or seven hundred and seven years]], and begets sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:10
And Enos lives after his begetting Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years [[or seven hundred and fifteen years]], and begets sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:13
And Cainan lives after his begetting Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years [[or seven hundred and forty years]], and begets sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:19
And Jared lives after his begetting Enoch eight hundred years, and begets sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:22
And Enoch habitually walks with God after his begetting Methuselah three hundred years [[or two hundred years]], and begets sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:26
And Methuselah lives after his begetting Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begets sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:30
And Lamech lives after his begetting Noah five hundred and ninety-five years [[or five hundred and sixty-five years]], and begets sons and daughters.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But her end is bitter as wormwood,.... Which is opposed to the honeycomb her lips are said to drop; so that, as Juvenal says g, "plus aloes quam mellis habet": the end which she brings persons to, or the issue of complying with her, is bitterness; such as loss of credit, substance, and health, remorse of conscience, and fear of death, corporeal and eternal; see Ecclesiastes 7:26;

sharp as a twoedged sword; which cuts every way; as committing sin with an harlot hurts both soul and body; and the reflection upon it is very cutting and distressing, and destroys all comfort and happiness. This is the reverse of her soothing and softening speech, which is as oil. Such also will be the sad case of the worshippers of the beast, or whore of Rome; who will gnaw their tongues for pain, and be killed with the twoedged sword that proceedeth out of the mouth of Christ,

Revelation 16:10.

g Satyr. 6. v. 180. "Lingua dicta dulcia dabis, corde amara facilis", Plauti Truculentus, Act. 1. Sc. 1. v. 77. Cistellaria, Act. 1. Sc. 1. v. 70, 71, 72.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wormwood - In Eastern medicine this herb, the absinthium of Greek and Latin botanists, was looked upon as poisonous rather than medicinal. Compare Revelation 8:11.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 5:4. Bitter as wormwood — כלענה Kelanah, like the detestable herb wormwood, or something analogous to it: something as excessive in its bitterness, as honey is in its sweetness.


 
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