Proverbs 6:33

Proverbs 6:33 (NASBStr)

Wounds and disgrace he will find,

And his reproach will not be blotted out.

Proverbs 6:33 (ESV)

He will get wounds and dishonor,

and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

The above proverb is talking about a man who would commit adultery with another man’s wife.  Those that would sleep with and defile another man's wife, in God's eyes, are dealt with in many ways.  In this particular proverb Solomon mentions two of them.   He states that the adulterous man will suffer some type of physical harm (wounds) and some type of social harm (disgrace).   Note Paul’s words about sexual sins:

1 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV)

18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

It is important to remember, here, that Solomon's father, King David, was one of these adulterous men.   When he sinned with Bathsheba his reputation was tainted for ever. Since we are mentioning it here, over 3,000 years later, it demonstrates the harm that sin did to one man's reputation.   The husband of the wife involved in adultery can rest assured that God will avenge this sin against him and his family.   If the husband was hungry and stole food to feed himself and his family, social harm might not come to him.   But, the man who steals another man's wife, will suffer great harm.  That is the argument that Solomon is making in this proverb and the few before it.  Solomon is not justifying stealing food.  He is simply saying that the harm of the reputation, because of adultery, has little comparison.  In today's society men might be able to play sports again or run for public office again, but their reputation is severally damaged because of their sexual sins.