Fathers

Proverbs 9

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

Proverbs 9:17

Eastern Fathers

Clement of Alexandria

Scripture sets down bread and water in clear reference simply to the heresies that use bread and water in their offertory contrary to the rules of the church. There are some who actually celebrate the Eucharist with plain water. "Jump up; do not linger in her place." Scripture is using the ambiguous word place to designate the synagogue rather than the church. …

The Stromata Book 1 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

I came upon that brazen woman, empty of prudence, who, in Solomon's obscure parable, sits on a seat at the door outside her house and says, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." This woman seduced me, because she found my soul outside its own door, dwelling externally in the eye of my flesh and ruminating within myself on such food as I had swallowed through my physical senses.

Confessions 3.6.11 ↗

Jerome

"The foolish and bold woman comes to want bread." What bread? Surely that bread which comes down from heaven. And he immediately adds, "The earth-born perish in her house, rush into the depths of hell." Who are the earth-born that perish in her house? They of course who follow the first Adam, who is of the earth, and not the second, who is from heaven.

Against Jovinianus 1.28 ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

What does water signify but human knowledge? This is in accord with Solomon's words implying the voice of heretics: "Stolen waters are sweeter." What does the Lamb's raw flesh indicate but his humanity that has been thoughtlessly and irreverently disregarded? Everything which we think of profoundly we cook, as it were, in our minds. The flesh of the Lamb was not to be eaten raw or boiled in water, because our Redeemer is not to be judged merely a human being, nor are we to use human science to explain how God could have been made man.

Forty Gospel Homilies 22 ↗