Proverbs 5:12-22

12 And hast said, `How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,

13 And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.

14 As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.

15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.

16 Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.

17 Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.

18 Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,

19 A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.

20 And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?

21 For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.

22 His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.

Proverbs 5:12-22 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.