Proverbs 5:1-11

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding;

2 so that you will preserve discretion and your lips keep watch over knowledge.

3 For the lips of a woman who is a stranger drop honey, her mouth is smoother than oil;

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

5 Her feet go down to death, her steps lead straight to Sh'ol;

6 she doesn't walk the level path of life -her course wanders all over, but she doesn't know it.

7 So now, children, listen to me; don't turn away from what I am saying:

8 distance your way from her, stay far from the door of her house;

9 so that you won't give your vigor to others and your years to someone who is cruel,

10 so strangers won't be filled with your strength and what you worked for go to a foreign house.

11 Then, when your flesh and bones have shrunk, at the end of your life, you would moan,

Proverbs 5:1-11 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.