Proverbs 6:27
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
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 va, "esh", "fire", and hvya, "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} to eiv pur kai eiv gunaika, apud Maximum, Eclog. c. 39.