John Gill Commentary Proverbs 5:6

"So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, [and] she knoweth [it] not." — Proverbs 5:6 (ASV)

Lest you should ponder the path of life
Consider and meditate which is the way to get out of her hands and ways, and escape death, and obtain eternal life; lest those she has drawn into her wicked course of life should be religiously inclined, and think of quitting such a course, and inquire after the way of life and salvation; and be weighing in their minds which is most eligible, to continue with her whose feet lead to death, or to take the path of life: to prevent all this, if possible, her ways are movable :

she appears in different shapes; changes her dress and habitation; makes use of a thousand arts to ensnare men, to entangle their affections, and retain them in her nets; she first puts them upon one thing, and then on another; she leads them into various mazes and labyrinths of sin, till they have lost all sense of religion, and sight of the path of life; that you cannot know them ^F11 ;

her ways, arts, and devices. Or, "you can not know"; that is, the way of life, or how to get out of her ways into that. Or, "you do not know"; where she leads you, whither she leads you, and what will be the end and issue of such a course of life. The Targum understands it, and so some other interpreters, of the harlot herself, paraphrasing the whole thus; ``in the way of life she walks not; her ways are unstable, and she does not know'' the way of life, nor where her ways will end; or, "cares not" ^F12 what becomes of her. And so, in like manner, the former part of the verse is understood and interpreted, "lest she ponder the path of life" ^F13 ; or as others, "she does not ponder the path of life" ^F14 ; The ways of the antichristian harlot are with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; and her chief care is to keep persons in ignorance, and from pondering the path of life or true religion, and to retain them in her idolatry, (2 Thessalonians 2:9 2 Thessalonians 2:10) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F11: (edt al) "non scires", Cocceius; "non cognosces", Baynus.
• F12: "Haud curat", Schultens.
• F13: (olpt Np Myyx xra) "iter vitae ne forte libraverit", Schultens.
• F14: "Viam vitae non appendit, vel ponderat", Gejerus; so Luther; "iter vitae non expandit", Noldius, p. 249. No. 2008.