Proverbs 5:6-16

6 lest thou should ponder the path of life, her ways are unstable; thou shalt not know them.

7 Hear me now therefore, O ye sons, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8 Remove thy way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house,

9 lest thou give thine honour unto others and thy years unto the cruel,

10 lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labours be in the house of a stranger,

11 and thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed

12 and say, How have I hated chastening and my heart despised reproof

13 and have not obeyed the voice of those who chastened me, nor inclined my ear to those that instructed me!

14 I have been in almost every kind of evil, in the midst of society and of the congregation.

15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well.

16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of thy waters in the streets.

Proverbs 5:6-16 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.