What Does Proverbs 7:15 Mean in the King James?
Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
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 voice presents its pursuit as intimacy, but the surrounding warning shows that being deliberately sought can itself be the bait.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you with the language of being specially chosen: someone comes toward you, seeks your face, and says they have found you. In the surrounding warning, that concentrated attention belongs to seduction; the feeling of being seen is part of its pull.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being pursued intensely does not prove that the pursuer’s attention is loving or safe; here, that very attention draws the listener toward danger.
THE ROOT
לְשַׁחֵר
leshachēr
GROWS FROM
שחר
To seek early or earnestly; the same consonants also form the word for dawn.
“diligently seek” in this verse is leshachēr. The Hebrew verb for seeking earnestly shares its form with the word for dawn, giving the pursuit a sense of urgency. Here, that earnestness is part of the seduction’s language: being sought can feel like proof of care without proving it.
ALSO GROWS
shachar: Dawn
שַׁחַר
The shared form links earnest seeking with the first light of day.
shicher: Sought early or earnestly
שִׁחֵר
This verbal form names the focused pursuit the speaker claims to have made.
פָּנֶיךָ
panekha
GROWS FROM
פנה
To turn or turn toward.
The word for face is commonly connected with פנה, “to turn,” and can also carry the sense of presence. The speaker says she sought the listener’s face: her pursuit is framed as attention directed toward this particular person.
ALSO GROWS
panah: Turn or turn toward
פָּנָה
It gives the image of a face its sense of someone turned toward another.
panim: Face or presence
פָּנִים
The sought face can mean the person’s presence, making the claim feel personal.
THE PATTERN
Enticing speech can make attention feel like personal devotion while drawing the listener into danger.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.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
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.Hosea uses the same root, שחר, translated “seek me early,” that Proverbs uses in “diligently seek.” Both verses place earnest seeking beside the language of a face, while Hosea makes the search part of a return toward what has been left.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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