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Saturday, July 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Douay-Rheims Bible

Proverbs 6:27

Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Adultery;   Temptation;   Women;   Young Men;   The Topic Concordance - Adultery;   Whoredom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Fire;   Garments;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Fornication;   Prostitution;   Wisdom;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Fool, Foolishness, Folly;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Fire;   Lap (Noun);   Proverbs, Book of;   Song of Solomon;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Bosom ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Clothe;   Fire;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fire;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Chastity;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Can a man embrace fireand his clothes not be burned?
Hebrew Names Version
Can a man scoop fire into his lap, And his clothes not be burned?
King James Version
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
English Standard Version
Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?
New Century Version
You cannot carry hot coals against your chest without burning your clothes,
New English Translation
Can a man hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes?
Amplified Bible
Can a man take fire to his chest And his clothes not be burned?
New American Standard Bible
Can anyone take fire in his lap And his clothes not be burned?
World English Bible
Can a man scoop fire into his lap, And his clothes not be burned?
Geneva Bible (1587)
Can a man take fire in his bosome, and his clothes not be burnt?
Legacy Standard Bible
Can a man take fire in his bosomAnd his clothes not be burned?
Berean Standard Bible
Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?
Contemporary English Version
If you carry burning coals, you burn your clothes;
Complete Jewish Bible
Can a man carry fire inside his shirt without burning his clothes?
Darby Translation
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his garments not be burned?
Easy-to-Read Version
If you drop a hot coal in your lap, your clothes will be burned.
George Lamsa Translation
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Good News Translation
Lexham English Bible
Can a man carry fire in his lap, and his clothes not burn?
Literal Translation
Can a man take fire into his bosom and his clothes not be burned?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Maye a man take fyre in his bosome, and his clothes not be brent?
American Standard Version
Can a man take fire in his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?
Bible in Basic English
May a man take fire to his breast without burning his clothing?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
King James Version (1611)
Can a man take fire in his bosome, and his clothes not be burnt?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
May a man take fire in his bosome, and his clothes not be brent?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Shall any one bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments?
English Revised Version
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether a man mai hide fier in his bosum, that hise clothis brenne not;
Update Bible Version
Can a man take fire in his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?
Webster's Bible Translation
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
New King James Version
Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?
New Living Translation
Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire?
New Life Bible
Can a man carry fire in his arms, and his clothes not be burned?
New Revised Standard
Can fire be carried in the bosom without burning one's clothes?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Can a man snatch up fire in his bosom, and, his clothes, not be burned?
Revised Standard Version
Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?
Young's Literal Translation
Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned?

Contextual Overview

20 My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. 21 Bind them in thy heart continually, and put them about thy neck. 22 When thou walkest, let them go with thee: when thou sleepest, let them keep thee, and when thou awakest, talk with them. 23 Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 24 That they may keep thee from the evil woman, and from the flattering tongue of the stranger. 25 Let not thy heart covet her beauty, be not caught with her winks: 26 For the price of a harlot is scarce one loaf: but the woman catcheth the precious soul of a man. 27 Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn? 28 Or can he walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burnt? 29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife, shall not be clean when he shall touch her.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Job 31:9-12, Hosea 7:4-7, James 3:5

Reciprocal: Job 31:12 - General Proverbs 5:8 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Can a man take fire in his bosom,.... A whore is compared to fire, and is so called by the poets o; and it is a saying of Pythagoras,

"it is a like thing to fall into fire and into a woman p;''

the Hebrew words אש, "esh", "fire", and אישה, "ishah", "a woman", have some affinity in sound; and the phrase of taking it "into the bosom" fitly expresses the impure embraces of a harlot;

and his clothes not be burned? he cannot, it is impossible; and equally vain is it to think that a man can commit whoredom and it not be known, or he not hurt by it in his name and substance, or in his body, soul, and life.

o Plauti Bacehides, Act. 4. Sc. 9. v. 15. "Accede ad ignem hunc", Terent. Eunuehus, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 5. p το εις πυρ και εις γυναικα, apud Maximum, Eclog. c. 39.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 6:27. Can a man take fire — These were proverbial expressions, the meaning of which was plain to every capacity.


 
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