What Does Proverbs 2:16 Mean in the King James?
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word translated “flattereth” means “makes smooth,” so the verse exposes seduction as speech polished to slide past discernment.
THE MEANING
You are delivered from the strange woman, the stranger who makes her words smooth and flattering. The verse places the danger in that smoothness: her speech glides into your hearing while drawing you toward her.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that flattering words prove someone is safe dissolves here: smooth speech can be part of the danger.
THE ROOT
הֶחֱלִיקָה
heḥĕlîqāh
GROWS FROM
חלק
ḥ-l-q
To be smooth or slippery; to make smooth.
“flattereth” in this verse is heḥĕlîqāh. English calls it flattery, but Hebrew pictures making words smooth. That image links the flattering voice to slippery ground: the danger lies in how easily the speech lets you slide.
ALSO GROWS
ḥālāq: Smooth, sleek.
חָלָק
This adjective names the surface quality implicit in the verb translated “flattereth.”
ḥalaqot: Smooth or slippery places.
חֲלָקוֹת
The same root’s image of smoothness becomes ground without firm footing, making the verse’s warning about speech tangible.
לְהַצִּילְךָ
lehaṣṣîlḵā
GROWS FROM
נצל
n-ṣ-l
To snatch away, rescue, or strip free.
“deliver” in this verse is lehaṣṣîlḵā. Deliverance here is a removal: you are snatched clear of the voice’s reach. The same root can describe stripping something from another’s grasp, so rescue means the hold is taken away.
ALSO GROWS
hiṣṣîl: Rescue, deliver.
הִצִּיל
This form makes clear that deliverance is being pulled away from danger’s reach.
wayenaṣṣelū: They stripped or plundered (Exodus 12:36).
וַיְנַצְּלוּ
This use of the same root pictures something being taken out of another’s grasp, echoing deliverance as release from a hold.
מִנָּכְרִיָּה
min-nokriyyah
GROWS FROM
נכר
n-k-r
To recognize or regard as other; to be foreign.
The verse doubles the description with zārāh and nokriyyah, strange and foreign, so the distance is spoken twice. The root נכר can also mean recognize or distinguish, giving “stranger” the sense of one marked as other.
ALSO GROWS
nokri: Foreigner, stranger.
נָכְרִי
This is the masculine form of the same word family, preserving the sense of someone foreign or distinct.
hikkir: Recognize, identify.
הִכִּיר
The root’s recognition sense illuminates how the stranger is marked out as distinct.
THE PATTERN
Speech that feels smooth and pleasing can conceal a pull that leads the hearer off course.
The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.THE THREAD
The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.The same root, חלק, appears in “smoother”: Proverbs names speech made smooth, and the Psalm places that smoothness beside war in the heart and swords in the words. The shared root shows how a voice’s polished surface can conceal its cutting force.
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