Proverbs 2:19

None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. NONE THAT GO UNTO HER RETURN AGAIN, NEITHER TAKE THEY HOLD OF THE PATHS OF LIFE. Never do they, except in the case of exceptional miracles by omnipotent grace. Chrysostom saith 'It is as hard to restore a lustful person to chastity as it is to restore a dead person to life.' (, "Whoredom, etc., take away the heart" - i:e., the understanding.)...

10-22 If we are truly wise, we shall be careful to avoid all evil company and evil practices. When wisdom has dominion over us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the heart, and will preserve, both against corruptions within and temptations without. The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such ways! They take pleasure in sin; both in committing it, and in seeing others commit it. Every wise man will shun such company. True wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, and war against the soul. These are evils which excite the sorrow of every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in such fatal snares. Let the suffering...

Verse Proverbs 2:19. _NONE THAT GO UNTO HER RETURN AGAIN_] There are very few instances of prostitutes ever returning to the paths of sobriety and truth; perhaps _not one_ of such as become prostitutes _through a_ _natural propensity to debauchery_. Among those who have been _deceived, debauched_, and _abandoned_, many have been reclaimed; and to such alone _penitentiaries_ may be useful; to the others they may only be incentives to farther sinning. _Rakes_ and _debauchees_ are sometimes converted: but most of them _never lay hold on the_ _path of life_; they have had their _health_ destroyed, and never _recover_ it. The original, חיים _chaiyim_, means _lives_; not only the _health_ of the _body_ is destroyed, but the _soul_ is _ruined_. Thus the unhappy man may be said to be _doubly_ slain....

The words describe more than the fatal persistency of the sinful habit when once formed. A resurrection from that world of the dead to “the paths of life” is all but impossible....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 2:1 3. _Third admonitory discourse, pointing out the benefits which arise from a sincere, earnest, and persevering search after Wisdom. _This discourse divides itself into three parts. (1) Proverbs 2:1 : a statement of the conditions which, if fulfilled, result in the highest knowledge of Jehovah—the fear of Jehovah and the knowledge of God, who is the Source of wisdom and the Protection and Ensurer of safety to the righteous. (2) Proverbs 2:10 : the negatively beneficial results of Wisdom, in delivery from the paths of evil, from destructive lusts and passions, from the temptations of wicked men and wicked

NONE THAT GO UNTO HER RETURN AGAIN,.... That is, those that commit whoredom with her return not again by repentance, and to a sober and chaste way of living, at least but very few; hence some of the ancients thought adultery was the unpardonable sin; but it is certain that some have been recovered by the power of divine grace, and have been brought to repentance for their impure manner of life, and have truly believed in Christ, and lived sober and godly lives afterwards; but, as the Targum adds, they do not return "in peace", but with great distress of mind, remorse of conscience, and bitterness of soul; and these instances are rare; generally speaking, such as are ensnared by an adulterous woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are as bands, are held so fast by her that they seldom get out again, though some few may escape, Ecclesiastes 7:26. The words may be rende

CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The pursuit of wisdom and its results (Proverbs 2:1)_ 2. Preservation from the evil man and the strange woman (Proverbs 2:10) 3. The path of the righteous (Proverbs 2:20) Proverbs 2:1 This second chapter of divine instructions begins with an exhortation to pursue after Wisdom. The sayings of Wisdom, that is the Word of the Lord, must be received, laid up, the ear must incline to hear them, the heart must be applied to understanding. In verse 3 mention is made of prayer. There must be crying after knowledge and for understanding and that must be followed by seeking and searching. If the

THIRD DISCOURSE. The wise man praises Wisdom, describing the blessings of obedience to her. The deeper religious element in wisdom appears, the fundamental conception of Hebrew prophecy, that the knowledge of God is the supreme good. PROVERBS 2:1. If the young man hearkens to wisdom, prizes it above all other gain, he will acquire the true knowledge of God. Yahweh alone gives wisdom, and He gives it only to the upright. PROVERBS 2:5. The phrase knowledge of God occurs in the OT only here and in Hos. Also Elohim only occurs elsewhere in Pr. in Proverbs 2:17; Proverbs 3:4;...

RETURN AGAIN. Compare "rooted out", Proverbs 2:22, with Isaiah 26:19. TAKE... HOLD. attain to....

_take they hold of_ Rather, REACH, or (R.V.) ATTAIN UNTO....