Proverbs 5:7-17

7 Now listen to me, sons, and never forget what I am saying.
8 Keep away from such a woman! Don't even go near her door!
9 If you do, others will gain the respect that you once had, and you will die young at the hands of merciless people.
10 Yes, strangers will take all your wealth, and what you have worked for will belong to someone else.
11 You will lie groaning on your deathbed, your flesh and muscles being eaten away,
12 and you will say, "Why would I never learn? Why would I never let anyone correct me?
13 I wouldn't listen to my teachers. I paid no attention to them.
14 And suddenly I found myself publicly disgraced."
15 Be faithful to your own wife and give your love to her alone.
16 Children that you have by other women will do you no good.
17 Your children should grow up to help you, not strangers.

Proverbs 5:7-17 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 1

  • [a]. And suddenly . . . myself; [or] I was about to be.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.