Proverbs 5:18

18 Let your ¹fountain be blessed, and ²rejoice in ³the wife of your youth,

Proverbs 5:18 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 5:18

Let thy fountain be blessed
Thy wife; make her happy by keeping to her and from others; by behaving in a loving, affable, and respectful manner to her; by living comfortably with her, and providing well for her and her children: or reckon her a happiness, a blessing that God has bestowed; or

``thy fountain shall be blessed,''

as the Targum; that is, with a numerous offspring, which was always reckoned a blessedness, and was generally the happiness of virtuous women, when harlots were barren; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth;
taken to be a wife in youth, and lived with ever since; do not despise her, nor divorce her, even in old age, but delight in her company now as ever; carry it not morosely and churlishly to her, but express a joy and pleasure in her; see ( Ecclesiastes 9:9 ) ( Malachi 2:14 Malachi 2:15 ) . Jarchi interprets this of the law learned in youth; but it might be much better interpreted of the pure apostolic church of Christ, "the beulah", to whom her sons are married, ( Isaiah 62:4 Isaiah 62:5 ) ; to whom they should cleave with delight and pleasure, and not follow the antichristian harlot.

Proverbs 5:18 In-Context

16 Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?

17 Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.

18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.

20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?

Cross References

• 1. [See ver. 15 above]
• 2. Deuteronomy 24:5
• 3. Malachi 2:14