Proverbs 5:1-14

Avoid Seduction

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely[a] to my understanding
2 so that [you] may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are[b] smoother than oil,
4 in the end she's as bitter as wormwood[c] and as sharp as a double-edged sword.[d]
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.[e]
6 She doesn't consider the path of life; she doesn't know that her ways are unstable.
7 So now, [my] sons, listen to me, and don't turn away from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her. Don't go near the door of her house.[f]
9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;
10 strangers will drain your resources, and your earnings will end up in a foreigner's house.
11 At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,
12 and you will say, "How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.[g]
13 I didn't obey my teachers or listen closely[h] to my mentors.
14 I was on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community."

Proverbs 5:1-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 5

The general instruction of this chapter is to avoid whoredom, and make use of lawful marriage, and keep to that. It is introduced with an exhortation to attend to wisdom and understanding, Pr 5:1,2; one part of which lies in shunning an adulterous woman; who is described by her flattery, with which she deceives; by the end she brings men to, which is destruction and death; and by the uncertainty of her ways, which cannot be known, Pr 5:3-6. Wherefore men are advised to keep at the utmost distance from her, Pr 5:7,8; lest their honour, strength, wealth, and labours, be given to others, Pr 5:9,10; and repentance and mourning follow, when too late, Pr 5:11-14. And, as a remedy against whoredom, entering into a marriage state is advised to, and a strict regard to that; allegorically expressed by a man's drinking water out of his fountain, and by his wife being as a loving hind and pleasant roe to him, the single object of his affections, Pr 5:15-19. As also the consideration of the divine omniscience is proposed, to deter him from the sin of adultery, Pr 5:20,21; as well as the inevitable ruin wicked men are brought into by it, Pr 5:22,23.

Footnotes 8

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