Proverbs 7:23
New International Version
till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him 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.

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.

Berean Standard Bible
until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

King James Bible
Till a dart strike 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 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.

NASB 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.

NASB 1977
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.

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.

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.

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.

Holman 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.

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.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And like a stag when an arrow flies into its liver, he hastens like a living bird to a snare, and does not know that it is to the death of his soul that he goes.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and he hastens as a bird into a snare, not knowing that he is running for 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.

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.

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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
until an arrow pierces his heart, like a bird darting into a trap. He does not realize that it will cost him his life.

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.

International Standard Version
until an arrow pierces his liver. As a bird darts into a snare, he doesn't realize his fatal decision.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Till an arrow strike through his liver; As a bird hasteneth to the snare-- And knoweth not that it is at the cost of his life.

Literal Standard Version
Until an arrow splits his liver, | As a bird has hurried to a snare, | And has not known that it [is] for its life.

Majority Standard Bible
until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

New American Bible
till an arrow pierces its liver; Like a bird that rushes into a snare, unaware that his life is at stake.

NET Bible
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.

New Revised Standard Version
until an arrow pierces its entrails. He is like a bird rushing into a snare, not knowing that it will cost him his life.

New Heart 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.

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.

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.

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.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Warnings about the Adulteress
22He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap, 23until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare— not knowing it will cost him his life. 24Now, my sons, listen to me, and attend to the words of my mouth.…

Cross References
Proverbs 6:26
For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

Proverbs 6:32
He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.

Proverbs 7:22
He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap,

Ecclesiastes 7:26
And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

Ecclesiastes 9:12
For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.


Treasury of Scripture

Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare, and knows not that it is for his life.

a dart

Numbers 25:8,9
And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel…

as a bird

Proverbs 1:17
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

Ecclesiastes 9:12
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

knoweth

Proverbs 9:18
But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

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Arrow Bird Cost Danger Dart Darting Entrails Falling Hastened Hasteneth Hastens Hasteth Hurries Liver Net Pierces Rushes Snare Split Strike Strikes Striketh Thought
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Proverbs 7
1. Solomon persuades to a sincere and kind familiarity with wisdom
6. In an example of his own experience he shows
10. the cunning of a harlot
22. and the desperate simplicity of a young wanton
24. He detests such wickedness














(23) Till a dart strike through his liver.--These words must be taken in a parenthesis.

That it is for his life.--i.e., at the cost of it, when "his flesh and body are consumed," and remorse has seized upon him (Proverbs 5:11).

Verse 23. - Till a dart strike through his liver. This clause would be better taken with the preceding verse, as in the Septuagint, or else placed in a parenthesis; then the following clause introduces a new come parison. The youth follows the harlot till his liver, the seat of the passions, is thoroughly inflamed, or till fatal consequences ensue. Theocr., 'Id,' 11:15 -

Ἔχθιστον ἔχων ὑποκάρδιον ἕλκος
Κύπριος ἐκ μεγάλας τὸ οἱ ἥπατι πᾶξε βέλεμνον.
"Beneath his breast
A hateful wound he bore by Cypris given,
Who in his liver fixed the fatal dart."
Delitzsch would relegate the hemistich to the end of the verse, making it denote the final result of mad and illicit love. The sense thus gained is satisfactory, but the alteration is quite arbitrary, and unsupported by ancient authority. As a bird hasteth to the snare. This is another comparison (see Proverbs 1:17, the first proverb in the book, and note there). And knoweth not that it is for his life; i.e. the infatuated youth does not consider that his life is at stake, that he is bringing upon himself, by his vicious rashness, temporal and spiritual ruin (Proverbs 5:11).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
until
עַ֤ד (‘aḏ)
Preposition
Strong's 5704: As far as, even to, up to, until, while

an arrow
חֵ֡ץ (ḥêṣ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2671: A piercer, an arrow, a wound, thunderbolt, the shaft of a, spear

pierces
יְפַלַּ֪ח (yə·p̄al·laḥ)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6398: To slice, break open, pierce

his liver,
כְּֽבֵד֗וֹ (kə·ḇê·ḏōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3516: The liver

like a bird
צִפּ֣וֹר (ṣip·pō·wr)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 6833: A little bird

darting
כְּמַהֵ֣ר (kə·ma·hêr)
Preposition-k | Verb - Piel - Infinitive construct
Strong's 4116: To be liquid, flow easily, to hurry, promptly

into
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

a snare—
פָּ֑ח (pāḥ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6341: A, sheet, a spring net

not
וְלֹֽא־ (wə·lō-)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

knowing
יָ֝דַ֗ע (yā·ḏa‘)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3045: To know

it
הֽוּא׃ (hū)
Pronoun - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

will cost him his life.
בְנַפְשׁ֥וֹ (ḇə·nap̄·šōw)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 7:23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 7:22
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