Proverbs 5:17

17 Your spring water is for you and you only, not to be passed around among strangers.

Proverbs 5:17 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 5:17

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
] Or "they shall be thine own" F21, as the Targum; meaning not the cistern, the well, or the wife, but the fountains and rivers, or the children; by a man's cleaving to his own wife, who is a chaste and virtuous woman, he is satisfied that the children he has by her are his own, and not another's; whereas if he has to do with a common harlot, it is uncertain whose children they are, she prostituting herself to many: it may be applied to the peculiar possession and steadfast retention of the truths of the Gospel, in opposition to all divers and strange doctrines propagated by others; see ( Revelation 2:25 ) ( 3:11 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (Kl wyhy) "erunt tui", Mercerus, Cocceius; "erunt tibi", Baynus; "existent tibi", Schultens.

Proverbs 5:17 In-Context

15 Do you know the saying, "Drink from your own rain barrel, draw water from your own spring-fed well"?
16 It's true. Otherwise, you may one day come home and find your barrel empty and your well polluted.
17 Your spring water is for you and you only, not to be passed around among strangers.
18 Bless your fresh-flowing fountain! Enjoy the wife you married as a young man!
19 Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose - don't ever quit taking delight in her body. Never take her love for granted!
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.