TRV
Study This Verse
Commentary on Proverbs 5 verses 1–14
Here we have,
I. A solemn preface, to introduce the caution which follows, Pro 5:1, Pro 5:2. Solomon here addresses himself to his son, that is, to all young men, as unto his children, whom he has an affection for and some influence upon. In God's name, he demands attention; for he writes by divine inspiration, and is a prophet, though he begins not with, Thus saith the Lord. "Attend, and bow thy ear; not only hear what is said, and read what is written, but apply thy mind to it and consider it diligently." To gain attention he urges, 1. The excellency of his discourse: "It is my wisdom, my understanding; if I undertake to teach thee wisdom I cannot prescribe any thing to be more properly called so; moral philosophy is my philosophy, and that which is to be learned in my school." 2. The usefulness of it: "Attend to what I say," (1.) "That thou mayest act wisely - that thou mayest regard discretion." Solomon's lectures are not designed to fill our heads with notions, with matters of nice speculation, or doubtful disputation, but to guide us in the government of ourselves, that we may act prudently, so as becomes us and so as will be for our true interest. (2.) "That thou mayest speak wisely - that thy lips may keep knowledge, and thou mayest have it ready at thy tongue's end" (as we say), "for the benefit of those with whom thou dost converse." The priest's lips are said to keep knowledge (Mal 2:7); but those that are ready and mighty in the scriptures may not only in their devotions, but in their discourses, be spiritual priests.
II. The caution itself, and that is to abstain from fleshly lusts, from adultery, fornication, and all uncleanness. Some apply this figuratively, and by the adulterous woman here understand idolatry, or false doctrine, which tends to debauch men's minds and manners, or the sensual appetite, to which it may as fitly as any thing be applied; but the primary scope of it is plainly to warn us against seventh-commandment sins, which youth is so prone to, the temptations to which are so violent, the examples of which are so many, and which, where admitted, are so destructive to all the seeds of virtue in the soul that it is not strange that Solomon's cautions against it are so very pressing and so often repeated. Solomon here, as a faithful watchman, gives fair warning to all, as they regard their lives and comforts, to dread this sin, for it will certainly be their ruin. Two things we are here warned to take heed of: -
1.That we do not listen to the charms of this sin. It is true the lips of a strange woman drop as a honey-comb (Pro 5:3); the pleasures of fleshly lust are very tempting (like the wine that gives its colour in the cup and moves itself aright); its mouth, the kisses of its mouth, the words of its mouth, are smoother than oil, that the poisonous pill may go down glibly and there may be no suspicion of harm in it. But consider, (1.) How fatal the consequences will be. What fruit will the sinner have of his honey and oil when the end will be, [1.] The terrors of conscience: It is bitter as wormwood, Pro 5:4. What was luscious in the mouth rises in the stomach and turns sour there; it cuts, in the reflection, like a two-edged sword; take it which way you will, it wounds. Solomon could speak by experience, Ecc 7:26. [2.] The torments of hell. If some that have been guilty of this sin have repented and been saved, yet the direct tendency of the sin is to destruction of body and soul; the feet of it go down to death, nay, they take hold on hell, to pull it to the sinner, as if the damnations slumbered too long, Pro 5:5. Those that are entangled in this sin should be reminded that there is but a step between them and hell, and that they are ready to drop into it. (2.) Consider how false the charms are. The adulteress flatters and speaks fair, her words are honey and oil, but she will deceive those that hearken to her: Her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them; she often changes her disguise, and puts on a great variety of false colours, because, if she be rightly known, she is certainly hated. Proteus-like, she puts on many shapes, that she may keep in with those whom she has a design upon. And what does she aim at with all this art and management? Nothing but to keep them from pondering the path of life, for she knows that, if they once come to do that, she shall certainly lose them. Those are ignorant of Satan's devices who do not understand that the great thing he drives at in all his temptations is, [1.] To keep them from choosing the path of life, to prevent them from being religious and from going to heaven, that, being himself shut out from happiness, he may keep them out from it. [2.] In order hereunto, to keep them from pondering the path of life, from considering how reasonable it is that they should walk in that path, and how much it will be for their advantage. Be it observed, to the honour of religion, that it certainly gains its point with all those that will but allow themselves the liberty of a serious thought and will weigh things impartially in an even balance, and that the devil has no way of securing men in his interests but by diverting them with continual amusements of one kind or another from the calm and sober consideration of the things that belong to their peace. And uncleanness is a sin that does as much as any thing blind the understanding, sear the conscience, and keep people from pondering the path of life. Whoredom takes away the heart, Hos 4:11.
2.That we do not approach the borders of this sin, Pro 5:7, Pro 5:8.
(1.)This caution is introduced with a solemn preface: "Hear me now therefore, O you children! whoever you are that read or hear these lines, take notice of what I say, and mix faith with it, treasure it up, and depart not from the words of my mouth, as those will do that hearken to the words of the strange woman. Do not only receive what I say, for the present merely, but cleave to it, and let it be ready to thee, and of force with thee, when thou art most violently assaulted by the temptation."
(2.)The caution itself is very pressing: "Remove thy way far from her; if thy way should happen to lie near her, and thou shouldst have a fair pretence of being led by business within the reach of her charms, yet change thy way, and alter the course of it, rather than expose thyself to danger; come not nigh the door of her house; go on the other side of the street, nay, go through some other street, though it be about." This intimates, [1.] That we ought to have a very great dread and detestation of the sin. We must fear it as we would a place infected with the plague; we must loathe it as the odour of carrion, that we will not come near. Then we are likely to preserve our purity when we conceive a rooted antipathy to all fleshly lusts. [2.] That we ought industriously to avoid every thing that may be an occasion of this sin or a step towards it. Those that would be kept from harm must keep out of harm's way. Such tinder there is in the corrupt nature that it is madness, upon any pretence whatsoever, to come near the sparks. If we thrust ourselves into temptation, we mocked God when we prayed, Lead us not into temptation. [3.] That we ought to be jealous over ourselves with a godly jealousy, and not to be so confident of the strength of our own resolutions as to venture upon the brink of sin, with a promise to ourselves that hitherto we will come and no further. [4.] That whatever has become a snare to us and an occasion of sin, though it be as a right eye and a right hand, we must pluck it out, cut it off, and cast it from us, must part with that which is dearest to us rather than hazard our own souls; this is our Saviour's command, Mat 5:28-30.
(3.)The arguments which Solomon here uses to enforce this caution are taken from the same topic with those before, the many mischiefs which attend this sin. [1.] It blasts the reputation. "Thou wilt give thy honour unto others (Pro 5:9); thou wilt lose it thyself; thou wilt put into the hand of each of thy neighbours a stone to throw at thee, for they will all, with good reason, cry shame on thee, will despise thee, and trample on thee, as a foolish men." Whoredom is a sin that makes men contemptible and base, and no man of sense or virtue will care to keep company with one that keeps company with harlots. [2.] It wastes the time, gives the years, the years of youth, the flower of men's time, unto the cruel, "that base lust of thine, which with the utmost cruelty wars against the soul, that base harlot which pretends an affection for thee, but really hunts for the precious life." Those years that should be given to the honour of a gracious God are spent in the service of a cruel sin. [3.] It ruins the estate (Pro 5:10): "Strangers will be filled with thy wealth, which thou art but entrusted with as a steward for thy family; and the fruit of thy labours, which should be provision for thy own house, will be in the house of a stranger, that neither has right to it nor will ever thank thee for it." [4.] It is destructive to the health, and shortens men's days: Thy flesh and thy body will be consumed by it, Pro 5:11. The lusts of uncleanness not only war against the soul, which the sinner neglects and is in no care about, but they war against the body too, which he is so indulgent of and is in such care to please and pamper, such deceitful, such foolish, such hurtful lusts are they. Those that give themselves to work uncleanness with greediness waste their strength, throw themselves into weakness, and often have their bodies filled with loathsome distempers, by which the number of their months is cut off in the midst and they fall unpitied sacrifices to a cruel lust. [5.] It will fill the mind with horror, if ever conscience be awakened. "Though thou art merry now, sporting thyself in thy own deceivings, yet thou wilt certainly mourn at the last, Pro 5:11. Thou art all this while making work for repentance, and laying up matter for vexation and torment in the reflection, when the sin is set before thee in its own colours." Sooner or later it will bring sorrow, either when the soul is humbled and brought to repentance or when the flesh and body are consumed, either by sickness, when conscience flies in the sinner's face, or by the grave; when the body is rotting there, the soul is racking in the torments of hell, where the worm dies not, and "Son, remember," is the constant peal [plea?]. Solomon here brings in the convinced sinner reproaching himself, and aggravating his own folly. He will then most bitterly lament it. First, That because he hated to be reformed he therefore hated to be informed, and could not endure either to be taught his duty (How have I hated not only the discipline of being instructed, but the instruction itself, though all true and good!) or to be told of his faults - My heart despised reproof, Pro 5:12. He cannot but own that those who had the charge of him, parents, ministers, had done their part; they had been his teachers; they had instructed him, had given him good counsel and fair warning (Pro 5:13); but to his own shame and confusion does he speak it, and therein justifies God in all the miseries that were brought upon him, he had not obeyed their voice, for indeed he never inclined his ear to those that instructed him, never minded what they said nor admitted the impressions of it. Note, Those who have had a good education and do not live up to it will have a great deal to answer for another day; and those who will not now remember what they were taught, to conform themselves to it, will be made to remember it as an aggravation of their sin, and consequently of their ruin. Secondly, That by the frequent acts of sin the habits of it were so rooted and confirmed that his heart was fully set in him to commit it (Pro 5:14): I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. When he came into the synagogue, or into the courts of the temple, to worship God with other Israelites, his unclean heart was full of wanton thoughts and desires and his eyes of adultery. Reverence of the place and company, and of the work that was doing, could not restrain him, but he was almost as wicked and vile there as any where. No sin will appear more frightful to an awakened conscience than the profanation of holy things; nor will any aggravation of sin render it more exceedingly sinful than the place we are honoured with in the congregation and assembly, and the advantages we enjoy thereby. Zimri and Cozbi avowed their villany in the sight of Moses and all the congregation (Num 25:6), and heart-adultery is as open to God, and must needs be most offensive to him, when we draw nigh to him in religious exercises. I was in all evil in defiance of the magistrates and judges, and their assemblies; so some understand it. Others refer it to the evil of punishment, not to the evil of sin: "I was made an example, a spectacle to the world. I was under almost all God's sore judgments in the midst of the congregation of Israel, set up for a mark. I stood up and cried in the congregation," Job 30:28. Let that be avoided which will be thus rued at last.
Continue studying Proverbs 5:7 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.
Read & Compare
BibleGatewayThis verse in more than 200 translations and 70 languages.
Bible.comThe YouVersion reader — hundreds of translations, reading plans, and highlights.
ESV.orgCrossway's official English Standard Version reader.
NET BibleThe NET translation with 60,000+ translators' notes on every rendering decision.
STEP BibleTyndale House's free study tool — original text, vocabulary, and scholarly resources.
BibliaLogos Bible Software's free web reader.
USCCBThe New American Bible (Revised Edition) with the U.S. bishops' study notes.
Commentaries
BibleHub CommentariesDozens of classic commentaries on this verse, gathered on one page.
StudyLightMore than 100 commentary sets — the largest collection on the web.
BibleRefPlain-English commentary on what this verse means, verse by verse.
Enduring WordDavid Guzik's free commentary on this chapter, widely used by Bible teachers.
Bible Study ToolsVerse commentary alongside Greek and Hebrew study aids.
Original Language & Research
- BibleHub InterlinearThe verse word by word — original language, transliteration, and English.
- BibleHub LexiconEvery word's original-language definition and Strong's entry.
Blue Letter BibleDeep-study tools — Strong's numbers, concordance, and word studies.
SefariaThe Hebrew text with Rashi and centuries of Jewish commentary.
Sermons, Hymns & Audio
TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.
SUMMARY
Proverbs 5:7 serves as a critical interjection within the father's urgent counsel against sexual immorality, shifting from a vivid portrayal of the adulteress's deceptive allure and destructive consequences to a direct, impassioned plea for attentive obedience. This verse underscores the vital importance of internalizing and steadfastly adhering to the wisdom shared, emphasizing that true understanding is demonstrated not merely by hearing, but by a resolute commitment to the path of righteousness and a deliberate avoidance of moral pitfalls.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Proverbs 5:7 employs several powerful literary devices to enhance its impact and urgency. The most prominent is Direct Address, as the speaker directly appeals to "O ye children," creating an intimate, personal, and authoritative tone that demands immediate attention and fosters a sense of responsibility in the listener. This is immediately followed by the strong Imperative Mood ("Hear me now," "depart not"), which conveys the urgency, non-negotiable nature, and vital importance of the instruction. The phrase "words of my mouth" is an example of Metonymy, where "mouth" (the organ of speech) stands for the instruction or counsel itself, emphasizing the personal origin, authoritative delivery, and intimate nature of the wisdom being imparted. The entire verse functions as a strategic Call to Attention, placed at a critical juncture in the discourse to reinforce the gravity of the preceding warnings and the life-preserving importance of the forthcoming counsel.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse resonates deeply with the broader biblical emphasis on the critical importance of hearing and obeying God's word. It echoes the foundational call of the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, where "hearing" (שָׁמַע, shâmaʻ) implies not just auditory perception but a responsive, obedient heart that actively embraces and lives out divine truth. The wisdom literature consistently teaches that life, blessing, and flourishing flow from diligent adherence to divine instruction, while deviation leads inevitably to destruction and sorrow. Proverbs 5:7 thus serves as a microcosm of the broader biblical truth that true wisdom is profoundly practical and requires a steadfast, unwavering commitment to God's revealed will, safeguarding individuals from the seductive allure of sin and its devastating consequences. It underscores that God's commands are not burdensome restrictions but loving guidelines given for our ultimate well-being and flourishing.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
In a world saturated with competing voices, alluring distractions, and subtle temptations, Proverbs 5:7 offers a timeless and vital call to discernment and steadfastness. It challenges us to critically evaluate the sources of counsel we heed and to prioritize wisdom that aligns with divine truth, recognizing that not all advice, however appealing, leads to life. Just as the father in Proverbs urges his son to "depart not from the words of my mouth," we are called to cling unswervingly to the unchanging principles of God's Word, especially when faced with alluring but ultimately destructive paths. This verse reminds us that true spiritual maturity is not merely about accumulating theological knowledge but about consistently applying truth to our daily lives, cultivating a responsive heart that actively listens to godly counsel and resolutely resists the subtle—or overt—invitations to compromise. It encourages a life of intentional adherence to righteousness, safeguarding our hearts and minds from the pervasive influences that seek to lead us astray from the path of life and integrity.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is the address "O ye children" significant in this context?
Answer: The address "O ye children" (or "my son," as often translated elsewhere in Proverbs) is highly significant because it establishes a relationship of loving authority and deep care. It signifies that the instruction is not merely abstract philosophy but a heartfelt, personal appeal from a wise elder (father or teacher) to a younger, less experienced individual. This familial or mentorship context underscores the speaker's profound desire for the listener's well-being and flourishing, making the call to "hear" and "depart not" a compassionate plea rather than a harsh command. It implies a trust relationship where the wisdom shared is for the son's protection and ultimate benefit, as seen in the broader context of the father's instruction throughout Proverbs 4.
What does "depart not" imply about the nature of wisdom and obedience?
Answer: The command "depart not" implies that wisdom is not a static concept to be learned once, but a dynamic path requiring continuous adherence and vigilance. It suggests that there will be temptations or pressures to deviate from the righteous way, whether from internal desires or external influences. True obedience, therefore, is not a one-time decision but a sustained, daily commitment to remain steadfastly on the path of God's instruction, actively resisting the allure of alternatives. It highlights the need for steadfastness, perseverance, and unwavering resolve in living out the principles of wisdom, especially in the face of seductive influences like those described in Proverbs 5:3-6.
How does this verse relate to the warnings about the "strange woman" in the rest of Proverbs 5?
Answer: Proverbs 5:7 serves as a critical pivot point within the father's extended warning against the "strange woman" (the adulteress). Having detailed her initial allure and the bitter, devastating consequences of her path in Proverbs 5:1-6, this verse is a direct, urgent call for the son to internalize and obey the instruction given. It emphasizes that the only way to avoid the ruin described later in the chapter—including loss of honor, wealth, health, and ultimately, life itself (e.g., Proverbs 5:11-14)—is through active, unwavering adherence to the words of wisdom. It's a plea for immediate and sustained moral vigilance in light of the profound dangers presented.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Proverbs 5:7, with its earnest call to "hear" and "depart not from the words of my mouth," finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While the Old Testament wisdom tradition points to a path of righteousness and the importance of heeding wise counsel, it is in Christ that perfect wisdom is embodied and fully revealed. He is presented in the New Testament as the very wisdom of God, in whom "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). The "words of my mouth" from the wise father in Proverbs foreshadow the authoritative and life-giving words of Jesus, who declared, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35). To "hear" Jesus is to believe in Him and to obey His commands, which He identifies as the foundational rock upon which a stable and fruitful life is built (Matthew 7:24-27). Furthermore, the call to "depart not" from wisdom's path is ultimately fulfilled in Christ, who is Himself "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Believers are called to abide in Him and His words, ensuring they do not stray from the path of eternal life and true righteousness. Thus, Proverbs 5:7 ultimately directs us to Jesus, the fount of all true wisdom, whose words alone bring life and whose path is the only one from which we must never depart.