King James Version
Proverbs 5
23 verses with commentary
Warning Against Adultery
My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
View commentary
Attending to understanding requires intellectual engagement with wisdom. The Hebrew 'binah' (understanding) denotes discernment between truth and error, right and wrong. This chapter's warnings against adultery demonstrate wisdom's application to the most powerful human drives, showing no area of life falls outside God's moral governance.
That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
View commentary
Guarding discretion and preserving knowledge requires attentiveness to wisdom. The Hebrew 'shamar' (keep/observe) and 'natsar' (preserve/guard) emphasize protective custody. Discretion and knowledge won't maintain themselves - they require vigilant defense against loss. This verse warns that wisdom, once gained, can be lost through neglect. Continuous effort preserves what careless inattention squanders.
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: mouth: Heb. palate
View commentary
The strange woman's seduction operates through deceptive speech—honey-sweet words concealing deadly consequences. This illustrates sin's fundamental pattern: promising pleasure while delivering death. Only God's word provides accurate assessment of sin's true nature and eternal ramifications.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
View commentary
The adulteress's end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. What began with honey-sweetness (v.3) ends in bitterness and death. The two-edged sword imagery emphasizes fatal consequences - sexual sin kills spiritually and often physically through disease, violence, and destruction of relationships. The contrast between initial pleasure and ultimate pain exposes sin's deceptive nature.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
View commentary
Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell (sheol - grave, death, underworld). The path of adultery leads inexorably to destruction - not merely risk but certainty. The vivid imagery of descending to sheol emphasizes sexual sin's deadly trajectory. While applied specifically to adultery, the principle extends to all sin - persistent evil leads to death, spiritual and eternal. Only repentance can reverse this downward trajectory.
Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
View commentary
The adulteress's lips drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil - initial appeal that conceals danger. The Hebrew 'nopheth' (honeycomb) and 'shemen' (oil) describe sensory attractiveness. Sin's deception often involves genuine pleasure that blinds to consequences. What tastes sweet initially produces bitter results (v.4). This verse warns against trusting superficial appeal without examining long-term outcomes.
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
View commentary
Children must hear and not depart from parental wisdom. The Hebrew 'shama' (hear/obey) and 'suwr' (depart/turn aside) demand both initial attention and continued adherence. This verse emphasizes receptivity to instruction - hearing isn't merely auditory reception but obedient response. Wisdom requires both receiving and retaining, both hearing and heeding.
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
View commentary
Remove your way far from the adulteress, and don't come near her house's door. The imperatives demand radical avoidance - don't merely resist but flee. Joseph's example (Gen 39) demonstrates this wisdom - when faced with sexual temptation, he fled. The specific mention of her door emphasizes avoiding even proximity to temptation. This reflects Reformed understanding that humans are weak; therefore wisdom requires not testing oneself but avoiding danger.
Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
View commentary
Give not your honor to others nor your years to the cruel. Sexual immorality surrenders dignity and consumes life. The Hebrew 'hod' (honor/splendor) and 'akzari' (cruel/fierce) describe what's lost and who profits. Adultery degrades the adulterer while enriching exploitative partners. Sin robs us of what's valuable and delivers us to what's destructive. Folly is transaction where we lose everything valuable for nothing of worth.
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; thy wealth: Heb. thy strength
View commentary
Strangers will be filled with your wealth and your labors go to a foreigner's house. The economic consequences of adultery are severe - everything you work for enriches others. The Hebrew 'zur' (stranger/outsider) appears twice, emphasizing that what should benefit your household instead benefits those with no legitimate claim. Sexual sin has financial devastation, not just moral/relational costs.
And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
View commentary
At life's end, you'll mourn when your flesh and body are consumed. The Hebrew 'naham' (groan/lament) describes anguished regret. The consumption of flesh/body likely indicates disease (STDs were known in ancient world) or simply aging's regrets. What seemed pleasurable in youth produces groaning in old age. Deathbed regrets can't undo life's foolish choices. This verse warns: consider end from beginning; don't live for present pleasure if it produces future anguish.
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
View commentary
The mourner laments: 'How I hated instruction and despised reproof!' This anguished backward look recognizes that rejecting wisdom produced ruin. The Hebrew 'sane' (hate) and 'na'ats' (despise/spurn) describe active rejection, not passive indifference. The tragedy isn't ignorance but willful refusal of knowledge freely offered. This verse captures the unique anguish of avoidable catastrophe - 'I was warned; I refused; now I'm destroyed.'
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
View commentary
The lamenter continues: 'I obeyed not my teachers nor inclined my ear to my instructors.' This confession acknowledges both disobedience and inattention. The Hebrew 'shama' (hear/obey) and 'natah' (incline/extend) describe active engagement that was refused. Teachers were available, instruction was offered, the student simply wouldn't engage. The tragedy is rejected opportunity - wisdom was accessible but refused.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
View commentary
Nearly destroyed in the midst of the congregation. The Hebrew 'kimeat' (almost/nearly) and 'raah' (evil/ruin) describe barely avoided catastrophe. Public disgrace threatened - sin committed privately almost became public scandal. This verse warns that secret sins tend toward public exposure. The congregation/assembly witnessing the ruin adds social shame to personal destruction.
Drink Water from Your Own Cistern
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
View commentary
Sexual fidelity within marriage is portrayed through water imagery—refreshing, life-giving, and exclusive. The cistern and well represent the covenant wife, whose love should fully satisfy. This elevates marital intimacy as God's good gift while condemning adultery's theft and covenant-breaking.
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
View commentary
Let your fountains be dispersed, and rivers of waters in the streets. This likely ironic statement questions whether sexual capacity should be shared promiscuously. The rhetorical answer (v.17) is no - intimacy should be reserved for marriage. The Hebrew 'palash' (dispersed/spread) describes indiscriminate scattering. Sexual energy is precious resource not to be wasted but carefully directed.
Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
View commentary
Let sexual intimacy be yours alone, not shared with strangers. The Hebrew 'zur' (stranger/outsider) indicates those outside covenant marriage relationship. This verse answers v.16's rhetorical question: no, don't disperse your fountains; keep them exclusive. Sexual intimacy belongs within marriage exclusively. Sharing what should be private violates intimacy's nature and degrades what should be sacred.
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
View commentary
This verse commands marital joy and fidelity within God's design. 'Let thy fountain be blessed' (יְהִי־מְקוֹרְךָ בָרוּךְ/yehi-meqorcha baruch) uses 'fountain' as metaphor for one's wife and sexual relationship. 'Rejoice with the wife of thy youth' (וּשְׂמַח מֵאֵשֶׁת נְעוּרֶךָ/usemach me'eshet ne'urecha) commands active delight in marital intimacy. The verb 'samach' (rejoice) is strong—gladness, celebration, joy. Chapter 5 contrasts the destructive path of adultery (vv.1-14) with the satisfying beauty of marital faithfulness (vv.15-23). This verse affirms God's good design for sexuality within marriage, refuting both asceticism (which denigrates marital intimacy) and licentiousness (which pursues it outside marriage's covenant). The wife of one's youth deserves lifelong commitment and joy, not abandonment for younger partners. This reflects covenant faithfulness and God's design for human flourishing.
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. satisfy: Heb. water thee be thou: Heb. err thou always in her love
View commentary
The wife should be as a loving deer and pleasant doe; be ravished always with her love. The Hebrew 'ahabiym' (loves/beloved) and 'cheshek' (desire/delight) describe affectionate attraction. 'Ravished' ('shagah') means intoxicated or captivated. Marital sexuality should be mutually satisfying and enduringly delightful. The deer/doe imagery suggests grace, beauty, gentleness. This verse celebrates married sexual joy as God's design.
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
View commentary
Why be ravished with a strange woman and embrace an adulteress? The rhetorical question expects negative answer: it makes no sense. When marital satisfaction is available, why pursue adultery? The Hebrew 'nekhar' (foreign/strange) describes the outsider, while 'zarah' (strange woman/adulteress) emphasizes covenant violation. Adultery is irrational - forsaking legitimate pleasure for illegitimate destruction.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
View commentary
This verse grounds sexual ethics in divine omniscience. 'The ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD' (כִּי נֹכַח עֵינֵי יְהוָה דַּרְכֵי־אִישׁ/ki nokach einei Yahweh darkei-ish) establishes that God sees all human behavior. 'He pondereth all his goings' (וְכָל־מַעְגְּלֹתָיו מְפַלֵּס/vekhol-ma'gelotav mefalles) uses 'palas' (ponder, weigh, examine), indicating God's careful scrutiny and moral evaluation. This verse concludes the chapter's warnings against adultery by reminding that secret sin is never hidden from God. While humans may commit adultery in darkness, thinking none will know, 'all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do' (Hebrews 4:13). This doctrine of divine omniscience provides both warning against sin (you cannot hide from God) and comfort in injustice (God sees all and will judge rightly).
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. sins: Heb. sin
View commentary
Sin enslaves through accumulated habit—cords binding ever tighter until escape seems impossible. Yet Reformed theology affirms God's sovereign grace can break any bondage. The sinner's self-deception ('his own iniquities shall take the wicked') shows sin's judicial dimension—we are imprisoned by our own choices while needing divine liberation.
He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
View commentary
The fool dies for lack of instruction, led astray by his great folly. The Hebrew 'muwth' (die) and 'shagah' (go astray/err) describe fatal wandering. Refusing instruction doesn't lead to freedom but death. The 'greatness' of folly isn't admirable magnitude but destructive enormity. This verse summarizes chapter 5's warning: sexual immorality, rooted in rejecting wisdom, leads to death - social, spiritual, potentially physical.