Proverbs 5:23

23 He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is lost.

Proverbs 5:23 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 5:23

He shall die without instruction
Into the evil of sin, and the danger he is in, and so without repentance for it; for instruction is the means of repentance, and productive of it when blessed, ( Jeremiah 31:19 ) ; but it is but just that those who have hated and rejected it in health and life, that when they come to die should have none given them about the evil of sin, the danger of their state, and the way of salvation; or rather "because of instruction" F26; because they would not bear and receive, but neglected, rejected, and despised it, so Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom; or "without correction" F1, or discipline and amendment by it; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray;
being left to the exceeding great folly of his mind, he shall continue to go astray as he has done from God and his good ways, from the precepts of his law, and the rules of his word; going after his own heart's lusts, which will drown him in perdition. This "folly" may be understood either of his fornication and adultery, which is egregious folly; or of his imagining that he should be able to repent of sin when he pleased, and free himself from the bondage of it, and escape the punishment due unto it.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 (rowm Nyab) "eo quod non audivit eruditionem", Pagninus, Mercerus, Gejerus; "propter neglectam institutionem", Piscator; "propter non admissam disciplinam", Noldius, p. 181.
F1 "Sine correctione et emendatione", Vatablus.

Proverbs 5:23 In-Context

21 For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he watches all his paths.
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is caught in the toils of his sin.
23 He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is lost.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.