What Does Proverbs 5:3 Mean?
For the lips of a stranger woman drip like honeycomb, and her palate is smoother than oil.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:THE KEY
The Hebrew root for “smooth” also names slippery ground, so the mouth’s smoothness already carries the danger of losing footing.
THE MEANING
The verse names how alluring speech reaches you: it tastes like honey and glides like oil. Its smoothness can make what is being said feel nourishing before its direction is clear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a pleasing tone proves a trustworthy intent: the verse sets honeyed speech beside the warning carried by “strange woman.”
THE ROOT
חָלָק
ḥālāq
GROWS FROM
חלק
To be smooth or slippery; the same root also carries the sense of dividing or portioning.
“smoother than oil” in this verse is ḥālāq. The word translated “smoother” belongs to a root that also describes slippery places. The image holds a warning inside the sensation: speech can feel effortless while making it easy to lose your footing.
ALSO GROWS
ḥălāqôt: Smooth things; flattering words.
חֲלָקוֹת
Isaiah uses this word for the smooth words people want to hear, linking physical smoothness with persuasive speech.
ḥălaqlaqqôt: Slippery places.
חֲלַקְלַקּוֹת
This related form describes slick ground, making the verse’s smoothness an image of instability as well as ease.
תִּטֹּפְנָה
tiṭṭōfnāh
GROWS FROM
נטף
To drip, distill, or let fall drop by drop.
“drip like honeycomb” in this verse is tiṭṭōfnāh. The lips do not merely speak; they drip. This root can also describe speech that flows out as utterance, making the honeyed words feel like a steady, tempting stream.
ALSO GROWS
maṭṭîf: One who drips; a speaker or prophesier.
מַטִּיף
Micah uses this root for speaking or prophesying, so the verse’s “drop” carries the texture of words flowing from the mouth.
nāṭāf: Stacte, a fragrant resin that drops.
נָטָף
This fragrant substance preserves the root’s sensory image: something appealing that falls drop by drop.
THE PATTERN
Words can arrive as sweetness or smoothness while concealing a force that deceives or wounds.
With the multitude of her instruction she bends him; with the smoothings of her lips she pushes him.The words of his mouth are smoother than butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are opened swords.For such ones do not serve our Lord Jesus, the anointed one, but their own belly, and by good words and fine speech they deceive the hearts of the harmless.THE THREAD
The words of his mouth are smoother than butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are opened swords.Psalm 55:21 uses the same Hebrew root, חלק, for words that are smooth. It places that smoothness beside war and drawn swords, showing how the same surface can conceal a sharply different intent.
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