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Proverbs 5

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Listen to Wisdom's Instruction 1–2

1
My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding: ​
2
That thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge.

The Deceptive Danger of Adultery 3–6

3
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil: ​
4
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. ​
5
Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol; ​
6
So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, andshe knoweth it not.

Consequences of Following the Adulteress 7–14

7
Now therefore, mysons, hearken unto me, 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 honor unto others, And thy years unto the cruel; ​
10
Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, And thy labors be in the house of an alien,
11
And thou mourn at thy latter end, When thy flesh and thy body are consumed, ​
12
And say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof;
13
Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14
I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation.

The Joy of Marital Fidelity 15–20

15
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well. ​
16
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets? ​
17
Let them be for thyself alone, And not for strangers with thee.
18
Let thy fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth. ​
19
Asa loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love.
20
For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

God Sees All Ways 21–23

21
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah; And he maketh level all his paths. ​
22
His own iniquities shall take the wicked, And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
23
He shall die for lack of instruction; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Proverbs 5

Verse 1

attend unto my wisdom — A father's voice, as in Prov 4:20, which uses the same verbs: 'attend' (qashab, to prick up the ears) and 'bow' or 'incline' (natah) the 'ear' (ozen). 'Wisdom' (chokmah) and 'understanding' (tevunah) are the two things he asks the son to take in before the warning of the chapter.

Verse 3

the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb — Zarah, one who has turned aside, a woman who is not his own. 'Honeycomb' is nopheth, the word of the bride's lips in Song 4:11, 'Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb'. The same sweetness is described, and chalaq, 'smoother', is the flattery of Prov 2:16 and 7:21.

Verse 4

her end is bitter as wormwood — Acharit, the last part, the outcome. The word returns in v.11, 'at the last'. La'anah, wormwood, is the bitter plant Amos names where men 'turn judgment to wormwood' (Amos 5:7). 'Twoedged' is literally 'of mouths' (peh), the edges of the blade (Heb 4:12).

Verse 5

Her feet go down to death — Yarad, to go down, is the verb for descent to sheol ('let them go down quick into hell', Ps 55:15). 'Steps' (tsa'ad) and 'take hold' (tamak) say that her path holds fast to the grave. The same road is in Prov 2:18, 'her house inclineth unto death', and Prov 7:27.

Verse 9

thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel — 'Honour' is hod, splendour. 'Cruel' is akzari, used again of 'the tender mercies of the wicked' that 'are cruel' (Prov 12:10). Both what he is known for and the years of his life pass to others, and the strength of verse 10 goes with them.

Verse 11

thou mourn at the last — Naham is to growl or roar, the sound of 'a roaring lion' (Prov 28:15) and of the lion over his prey (Isa 5:29). Acharit, 'the last', is the word of v.4. 'Flesh' and 'body' (basar and she'er) are both consumed. Paul asks of such things: 'for the end of those things is death' (Rom 6:21).

Verse 15

Drink waters out of thine own cistern — Bor, a cistern, and be'er, a well, are water a man digs and keeps himself, as 'every one the waters of his cistern' (2 Kgs 18:31). 'Running waters' (nozelim) are fresh. Vv.18–19 give the plain meaning, 'rejoice with the wife of thy youth'; Song 4:15 calls the bride 'a well of living waters'.

Verse 16

Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad — Mayan, a spring, scattered 'abroad' (chuts, outside the house) and in the broad 'streets' (rechob, as in Ps 144:14). The KJV reads this as a wish that the household overflow with children, who are to be 'only thine own' (v.17). Other versions read it as a question that v.17 answers.

Verse 18

the wife of thy youth — Maqor, a fountain, is dug, a source, and 'blessed' is barak. The same wife is named in Mal 2:14 as 'the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously… the wife of thy covenant'. Eccl 9:9 gives the same command, 'Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest'.

Verse 21

the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD — Derek, the road a man treads, and ma'gal, the track of his 'goings'. 'Pondereth' is palas, to level a path, used of a man's own care in Prov 4:26, 'Ponder the path of thy feet'. 'The eyes of the LORD are in every place' (Prov 15:3); 'he seeth all his goings' (Job 34:21).

Verse 23

He shall die without instruction — Musar, discipline, the thing the son confesses he hated (v.12). 'Go astray' is shagah, the verb rendered 'ravished' in vv.19–20, so the man led astray by love ends led astray by his own 'folly' (ivveleth). Prov 10:21 says 'fools die for want of wisdom'.