Proverbs 7:22

He goeth after her straightway,.... Or "suddenly" g; and inconsiderately, giving himself no time to think of what would be the sad consequences of it;

as an ox goeth to the slaughter; as senseless and stupid as that; and as ignorant of the issue as that is, led by the butcher, as if it was going to a pasture, when it is going to the slaughter house. So such persons as are ensnared by harlots; they follow them in a view of pleasure, but it ends in ruin; if not in the loss of bodily life, by the revengeful husband or civil magistrate; yet in the destruction of their immortal souls;

or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; a drunken besotted fool, who, while he is leading to the stocks, is insensible whither he is going; but when he has been there awhile, and is come out of his drunken fit, then he is sensible of his punishment and his shame. Or, "as the stocks are for the correction of a fool" h: or, as a man goes to "the stocks, to the correction of a fool" i; so the young man went after the harlot: or, as "one fettered" k, goes thither, bound hand and foot; he cannot help himself, nor avoid the shame. It denotes both the power of sin, there is no withstanding its allurements and blandishments, when once given way to, and the shame that attends or follows it. The Targum is,

"as a dog to a chain;''

and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions.

g פתאם "subito", Baynus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis. h כעכס אל מוסר אויל "sicut compes ad castigationem stulti", Pagninus, Montanus, Baynus. i "Abiens post cam, quasi veniens ad compedes ad castigationem stultorum", Gejerus. k "Velut compeditus", Junius Tremellius "velut in compede ibat", Michaelis "tanquam constricto ad pedes capite", Schultens.