BibleInTonguesWEB
Proverbs 5
The first of several warnings about the adulteress: her lips "drip honey" and her speech is smoother than oil, but the aftertaste is wormwood and her feet "go down to death" (v.3-5). The danger is framed as something sweet that costs years, honor and wealth (v.9-10). Watch the second half turn from warning to its positive counterpart: drink from your own cistern, rejoice in the wife of your youth (v.15,18).
- 1
My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
- 2
that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
- 3
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
- 4
but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
- 5
Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.
- 6
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
- 7
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
- 8
Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
- 9
lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
- 10
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.
- 11
You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
- 12
and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
- 13
I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
- 14
I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.”
- 15
Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
- 16
Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
- 17
Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
- 18
Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
- 19
A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
- 20
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
- 21
For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
- 22
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
- 23
He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
The regret speech
Verses 12-14 imagine the man at his ruined end, finally speaking the words he should have heeded: "How I have hated instruction." The chapter lets the consequence rehearse its own confession before it happens, so the listener can hear it now while there is still time.
The closing image binds everything to divine sight: a man's ways are "before the LORD's eyes" (v.21), and his own sins become the cords that hold him fast (v.22).
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