Proverbs 2:16 - Exposition

To deliver thee from the strange woman. This is the second form of temptation against which wisdom (discretion) is a preservative, and the great and especial dangers arising from it to youth, owing to its seductive allurements, afford the reason why the teacher is so strong in his warnings on this subject. Two terms are employed to designate the source of this evil—"the strange woman" ( אִשָה זָרָה , ishshah zara ) , and "the stranger" ( נָכְרִיָה , nok'riyah ) — and both undoubtedly, in the passage before us, mean a meretricious person, one who indulges in illicit intercourse. The former term is invariably employed in this sense in the Proverbs ( Proverbs 5:2 , Proverbs 5:20 ; Proverbs 7:5 ; Proverbs 22:14 ; Proverbs 23:33 ) of the adulteress ( זָרִים , zarim ) , and Jeremiah 2:25 . The participle זָר ( zar ) , from the verb זוּר ( zur ) , of which זָרָה ( zarah ) is the feminine form, is, however, used in a wider sense, as signifying

Thus: