· Translation: KJV

Proverbs 6:25Don't lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

The setting

Ancient Israel, ~950 BC. A father teaches his son that the battle for purity begins in the mind, not the bedroom, in Jerusalem, Israel

The emotion here: desperate fatherly protection, knowing this destroys marriages and destinies

The original word

chamad (חָמַד) — to desire what belongs to another, the same word used in the tenth commandment

Why it matters

Ancient Hebrew culture understood that the eyes were the 'gateway to the heart' — what you look at shapes what you become

Read with care

What most readers miss in Proverbs 6:25

The phrase 'captivate you with her eyelids' refers to deliberate seductive glances — she's hunting

Common misconceptionPeople think this is about avoiding all attraction to beauty, but it's specifically about cultivating lust for what belongs to another.

Bible Genome reading

Proverbs 6:25 — Bible Genome reading

EraDivided Kingdom
Primary emotiondeciding
Literary typeteaching
MarkCommand

Emotional genome

Comfort power20%
Quotability70%
Memorability80%
Crisis relevance60%
Standalone70%
Themes:sexual purityheart guard

In context

No verse stands alone.

Read the conversation around it.

Open Proverbs 6

Proverbs 6:25 comes from the book of Proverbs, written during the Divided Kingdom period. The dominant emotion in this verse is deciding, with a comfort power of 20% and a tone that is commanding. It belongs to the teaching genre of biblical literature. Key themes include sexual purity, heart guard. Notable phrases: don't lust after her beauty. This verse contains a command.

Your reflection

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