The interpretation timeline

Prov 7:6

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 1 Catholic · 1 Reformed · 1 Lutheran

Prov 7:6 · Douay-Rheims
“For I look out of the window of my house through the lattice,”
Patristic before A.D. 750
735
A.D.
Bede Patristic
A.D. 673–735
“For from the window of my house I looked through the lattice, etc. Aptly, however, does Solomon say he looked from the window of his house through the lattice, to judge the deeds of the little ones. For one who looks from a window through the lattice can fully consider what is done outside, yet those outside cannot see the one looking within. For this is what the Apostle says: The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself judged by no one (1 Cor. I). From the window therefore, and so on. It is clear according to the letter, that the gaze of wise teachers diligently observes the actions of the weak and the strong; but the eternal wisdom of God looks from heaven, and sees all the sons of men.”
Source
1,114 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“Lattice. No glass was used, on account of the great heat. (Calmet)”
1871
A.D.
1871
“For--or, "Since," introducing an example to illustrate the warning, which, whether a narrative or a parable, is equally pertinent. window--or, "opening" looked--literally, "watched earnestly" (Jdg 5:28). casement--or, "lattice."”
1875
A.D.
Keil & Delitzsch Lutheran
1861–1875
“How necessary it is for the youth to guard himself by the help of wisdom against the enticements of the wanton woman, the author now shows by a reference to his own observation. 6 For through the window of my house, From behind the lattice I looked out; 7 Then saw I among the simple ones, Discerned among the young people, a youth devoid of understanding. כּי refers indeed to the immediately following clause, yet it actually opens up the whole following exemplification. The connection with Pro 7:5 would be closer if instead of the extended Semitic construction it were said: nam quum ...prospicerem vidi, etc. חלּון (from חלל, to bore through) is properly a place where the wall is bored through. אשׁנב .hguor (from שׁנב = Arab. shaniba, to be agreeable, cool, fresh) is the window-lattice or lattice-window, i.e., lattice for drawing down and raising up, which keeps off the rays of the sun. נשׁקף signifies primarily to make oneself long in order to see, to stretch up or out the neck and the head, καραδοκεῖν, Arab. atall, atal'a, and tatall'a of things, imminere, to overtop, to project, to jut in; cf. Arab. askaf of the ostrich, long and bent, with respect to the neck stretching it up, sakaf, abstr. crooked length. And בּעד is thus used, as in Arab. duna, but not b'ad, is used: so placed, that one in relation to the other obstructs the avenue to another person or thing: "I looked forth from behind the lattice-window, i.e., with respect to the persons or things in the room, standing before the lattice-window, and thus looking out into the open air" (Fleischer). That it was far in the night, as we learn at Pro 7:9, does not contradict this looking out; for apart from the moon, and especially the lighting of the streets, there were star-lit nights, and to see what the narrator saw there was no night of Egyptian darkness. But because it was night 6a is not to be translated: I looked about among those devoid of experience (thus e.g., Lwenstein); but he saw among these, observed among the youths, who thus late amused themselves without, a young man whose want of understanding was manifest from what further happened. Bertheau: that I might see, is syntactically impossible. The meaning of וארא is not determined by the אבינה following, but conversely אבינה stands under the operation of ו (= אבינה, Neh 13:7), characterizing the historic aorist. Regarding פּתי, vid., at Pro 1:4. בּנים is the masc. of בּנות, Arab. benât in the meaning maiden. בבּנים has in correct texts, according to the rules of the accents, the ב raphatum. (Note: Regarding the Targ. of Pro 7:6-7, vid., Perles, Etymologische Studien, 1871, p. 9.)”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.