Proverbs 5:7-23

Do Not Commit Adultery Against Wisdom

7 Now, O children, listen to me; do not depart from the sayings of my mouth.
8 Keep your paths far from her, and do not go near to the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to the others, and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take [their] fill of your strength, and your labors [go] to the house of a foreigner,
11 and you groan at your end, when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and say "How I hated discipline, and I despised reproof!"
13 and "I did not listen to the voice of my teachers, and I did not incline my ear to my instructors!
14 I was almost at utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation."
15 Drink water from your [own] cistern and flowing waters from inside your own well.
16 Shall your springs be scattered outward? In the streets, [shall there be] streams of water?
17 May they be yours alone, and not for strangers [who are] with you.
18 May your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 [She is] a deer of love and a doe of grace; may her breasts satisfy you {always}; by her love may you be intoxicated continually.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my child, by a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For before the eyes of Yahweh [are] {human ways}, and all his paths he examines.
22 His iniquities shall ensnare him, the evildoer, and in the vanity of his sin he shall be caught.
23 He shall die {for lack of} discipline, and in the greatness of his folly he shall be lost.

Proverbs 5:7-23 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 6

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.