Proverbs 5:20

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

Proverbs 5:20 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 5:20

And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman,
&c.] Or "err with her" F25; after all those inconveniences and miseries that follow upon a conversation with a harlot, and all those advantages of a marriage state set before thee; why wilt thou be, so foolish and mad as to have a fondness for an harlot and dote upon her, and neglect entering into a marriage state, or forsake the wife of youth? and yet though things are so clearly stated and aptly represented, and the expostulation made in the most tender and affectionate manner; it is suggested as if after all it would not be attended unto, but a harlot be preferred to a wife of youth, a filthy beast to a loving hind, and dirty puddles of water in a ditch to running streams from a well or fountain; and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
that is not thy wife; a description of unlawful love and impure embraces, which are dissuaded from.


FOOTNOTES:

F25 "Errares", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "aberrares", Cocceius.

Proverbs 5:20 In-Context

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.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.