Proverbs 23:28 - Exposition

She also lieth in wait as for a prey. "Yea, she [ Proverbs 22:19 ] lieth in wait," as is graphically described in Proverbs 7:1-27 . (comp. Jeremiah 3:2 ). Chetheph is better taken, not as "prey," but in a concrete sense as the person who snatches it, the robber. Vulgate, Insidiatur in via quasi latro (comp. Psalms 10:9 ). And increaseth the transgressors among men. The Greek and Latin versions have taken רוֹסִיף as meaning "kills," "destroys." But the verb yasaph always means "to add," here "to multiply." The special transgression indicated is treachery or faithlessness. The harlot leads her victim to be faithless to his God, his wife, his parents, his tutor, his master. Septuagint, "For he shall perish suddenly, and every transgressor shall be destroyed."