Proverbs 5:3-23

3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman ^[a] drip honey and her speech ^[b] is smoother than oil,

4 in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. ^[c]

6 She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

7 So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.

8 Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,

9 lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;

10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,

12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.

14 I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”

15 Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

16 Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?

17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.

18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn— may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated ^[d] by her love forever.

20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger? ^[e]

21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines ^[f] all his paths.

22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.

23 He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.

Proverbs 5:3-23 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

• [a] Or the adulteress
• [b] Or her palate
• [c] Or lay hold of Sheol
• [d] Or be led astray; also in verse 20
• [e] Or a foreign woman or another man’s wife
• [f] Or ponders or makes level