Proverbs 6:27

English Revised Version

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Can a man embrace fireand his clothes not be burned?

Hebrew Names Version
Can a man scoop fire into his lap, And his clothes not be burned?

King James Version
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

English Standard Version
Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?

New Century Version
You cannot carry hot coals against your chest without burning your clothes,

New English Translation
Can a man hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes?

Amplified Bible
Can a man take fire to his chest And his clothes not be burned?

New American Standard Bible
Can anyone take fire in his lap And his clothes not be burned?

World English Bible
Can a man scoop fire into his lap, And his clothes not be burned?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Can a man take fire in his bosome, and his clothes not be burnt?

Legacy Standard Bible
Can a man take fire in his bosomAnd his clothes not be burned?

Berean Standard Bible
Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?

Contemporary English Version
If you carry burning coals, you burn your clothes;

Complete Jewish Bible
Can a man carry fire inside his shirt without burning his clothes?

Darby Translation
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his garments not be burned?

Easy-to-Read Version
If you drop a hot coal in your lap, your clothes will be burned.

George Lamsa Translation
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

Good News Translation

Lexham English Bible
Can a man carry fire in his lap, and his clothes not burn?

Literal Translation
Can a man take fire into his bosom and his clothes not be burned?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Maye a man take fyre in his bosome, and his clothes not be brent?

American Standard Version
Can a man take fire in his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?

Bible in Basic English
May a man take fire to his breast without burning his clothing?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

King James Version (1611)
Can a man take fire in his bosome, and his clothes not be burnt?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
May a man take fire in his bosome, and his clothes not be brent?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Shall any one bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether a man mai hide fier in his bosum, that hise clothis brenne not;

Update Bible Version
Can a man take fire in his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?

Webster's Bible Translation
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?

New King James Version
Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?

New Living Translation
Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire?

New Life Bible
Can a man carry fire in his arms, and his clothes not be burned?

New Revised Standard
Can fire be carried in the bosom without burning one's clothes?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Can a man snatch up fire in his bosom, and, his clothes, not be burned?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn?

Revised Standard Version
Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?

Young's Literal Translation
Doth a man take fire into his bosom, And are his garments not burnt?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned?

Contextual Overview

²⁰ My son, keep the commandment of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: ²¹ Bind them continually upon thine heart, tie them about thy neck. ²² When thou walkest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall watch over thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. ²³ For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: ²⁴ To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the stranger's tongue. ²⁵ Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. ²⁶ For on account of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress hunteth for the precious life. ²⁷ Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? ²⁸ Or can one walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched? ²⁹ So he that goeth in to his nieghbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be unpunished.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Job 31:9-12, Hosea 7:4-7, James 3:5

Reciprocal: Job 31:12 - General Proverbs 5:8 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Can a man take fire in his bosom,.... A whore is compared to fire, and is so called by the poets o; and it is a saying of Pythagoras,

"it is a like thing to fall into fire and into a woman p;''

the Hebrew words אש, "esh", "fire", and אישה, "ishah", "a woman", have some affinity in sound; and the phrase of taking it "into the bosom" fitly expresses the impure embraces of a harlot;

and his clothes not be burned? he cannot, it is impossible; and equally vain is it to think that a man can commit whoredom and it not be known, or he not hurt by it in his name and substance, or in his body, soul, and life.

o Plauti Bacehides, Act. 4. Sc. 9. v. 15. "Accede ad ignem hunc", Terent. Eunuehus, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 5. p το εις πυρ και εις γυναικα, apud Maximum, Eclog. c. 39.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 6:27. Can a man take fire — These were proverbial expressions, the meaning of which was plain to every capacity.