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Christianity

Proverbs 5Faithfulness in Marriage

Summary

Proverbs 5 is a frank warning against adultery. The lips of the strange woman drip honey, but her end is bitter as wormwood and her steps lead to death. The father warns that chasing her squanders strength, wealth and years, ending in regret and the lament, How have I hated instruction. Using images of water, he urges his son to drink from his own cistern and rejoice in the wife of his youth, for God sees every path a person takes.

Key verse

“Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.”

Proverbs 5:18

Themes

  • Marital Fidelity
  • Consequences
  • Delight in Marriage
  • Self-Control

Text

1

My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

2

That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

3

For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

4

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

5

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

6

Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

7

Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

8

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

9

Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

10

Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

11

And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12

And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

13

And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

14

I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

16

Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

17

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.

18

Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

19

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.

20

And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21

For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

22

His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

23

He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

  • Islam

    Surah Al-Isra (17): Come Not Near Adultery

    Quran 17:32 says, Come not near unto adultery, calling it an abomination and an evil way. Like Proverbs 5:8, which tells the son not to come near the door of her house, it warns against the approach as well as the act.

  • Christianity

    Song of Solomon 4: A Fountain Sealed

    Song of Solomon 4:12 to 15 calls the beloved a spring shut up, a fountain sealed and a well of living waters. Proverbs 5:15 to 19 uses the same water imagery for the exclusive joy of marriage.

Questions about Proverbs 5

What does drink waters out of thine own cistern mean?

Proverbs 5:15 uses water as a picture of sexual love. The father urges his son to find satisfaction in his own wife rather than seeking it elsewhere, as 5:18 to 19 makes plain.

Why is the adulteress's speech compared to honey?

Proverbs 5:3 to 4 says her lips drop like a honeycomb and her mouth is smoother than oil, but her end is bitter as wormwood, contrasting sweet beginnings with painful outcomes.