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Proverbs 7 · a question people ask

"Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows" (7:14). What does she mean?

In the text

These are her words, and the speaker gives them as she spoke them (7:13-14). The chapter doesn't explain them, doesn't say why she said them, and adds no word of its own about them. The law of the peace offerings is in Leviticus 7 (Leviticus 7:11-21), and vows are named there (Leviticus 7:16). These notes go no further: they don't explain her words from outside the chapter or say what she meant by them. What the chapter does say is where her words led: "With persuasive words, she led him astray" (7:21).

The verses

“So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him: “Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows.”
Proverbs 7:13-14 · World English Bible
““‘But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow, or a free will offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice. On the next day what remains of it shall be eaten,”
Leviticus 7:16 · World English Bible
“With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.”
Proverbs 7:21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Proverbs 7

Proverbs 7: Keep my words and live

In Hebrew the apple of your eye (7:2) and the middle of the night (7:9) are one word, ishon. And the woman is "in the streets" and "in the squares" (7:12), in Hebrew the very words of "Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares" (1:20): two voices, in the same places.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions