Proverbs 2:16

strange woman … stranger i.e. not belonging to thee; a stranger, in right, to any such relationship. Neither of the words, as here used, has any reference to nationality, as though the danger in question arose chiefly from foreignwomen. They are married women of the true religion (Proverbs 2:17), and wives of fellow-citizens (Proverbs 7:19-20) who are here in view. It is a different Heb. word that is used commonly (e.g. Genesis 15:13; Exodus 20:10) for a "stranger" in the sense of a foreigner, one sojourning in a land not his own. The "strangewoman" here is so called in the sense which the same Heb. word bears in such passages as Exodus 29:33; Exodus 30:33 (one who is outside the family of Aaron); Deuteronomy 25:5 (one who is outside the family circle). This word for stranger, though it often means a foreigner(Deuteronomy 17:15; comp. Exodus 2:22; Exodus 21:8), is here a proper synonym with the word in the parallel clause, one who is not a man's own wife; just as in Ecclesiastes 6:2 it means one who is not a man's own child.

flattereth Heb. maketh smooth her words, R.V. marg. An example is given in Proverbs 7:13-21.