Proverbios 5

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Proverbs 5 is a father's warning to his son about adultery, and a celebration of marriage. The forbidden woman's lips drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, but she ends bitter as wormwood, and her steps go down to death. The father describes the price in detail: strength given to others, wealth to strangers, years to the cruel, and at the end a groan of regret in front of the whole assembly, "How I hated discipline." Then the tone changes. Drink water from your own cistern. Rejoice in the wife of your youth, be captivated by her love always. The chapter closes by reminding the son that his ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and that a man is caught in the cords of his own sin.

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Proverbs 5 is a father talking to his son about sex, and it is remarkable for how honest it is. He does not pretend the other woman is unattractive. Her lips drip honey; her speech is smoother than oil. That is exactly why he is worried. What he wants his son to see is the end of the road rather than the beginning: wormwood, a sword, steps that go down to death. He describes the cost with an accountant's precision, your strength spent on others, your money in strangers' houses, your years handed to someone cruel, and then he does something the book of Proverbs rarely does. He writes the son's own future speech for him, the words of an old man groaning at the end of a wasted life: how I hated discipline, how I ignored my teachers, and now I am ruined in front of everyone. Then the chapter turns and becomes a love poem. Drink from your own cistern. Let your fountain be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth, a loving doe, and be captivated by her love always. The father's cure for adultery is not suspicion of desire but desire aimed at home. The last three verses lift the whole thing into the light of God: every path a man takes is in front of the LORD's eyes, and the sinner is not caught by God's trap but by the cords of his own making. He dies, the chapter says, for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.

Pasajes clave

Proverbs 5:3-6 Proverbs 5:11-14 Proverbs 5:15-19 Proverbs 5:21-23 Proverbs 7:6-27 Song of Solomon 4:9-12

Historical and literary context

Chapters 1 to 9 of Proverbs are a set of speeches from a father, and sometimes a mother, to a young man on the threshold of adult life, in the style of Egyptian and Mesopotamian instruction literature used to train future officials. This is the first of three extended warnings about the "strange" or forbidden woman, followed by 6:20 to 35 and chapter 7. In ancient Israel adultery was a capital offense and, when it was not punished by death, could cost a man his property in compensation to the wronged husband, which is what verses 9 and 10 describe. The cistern and well of verses 15 to 18 draw on the value of private water in a dry land, and the language of the doe and the fawn belongs to the love poetry of the Song of Songs.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 and 2 call the son to attention. Verses 3 to 6 describe the forbidden woman, honey on the lips, wormwood at the end, feet going down to death. Verses 7 to 14 spell out the consequences of going near her house: lost vigor, lost wealth, lost years, and the deathbed lament of a man who refused instruction. Verses 15 to 20 turn to marriage under the image of one's own cistern and well, with the blessing on the wife of one's youth and the question why a man would embrace a stranger instead. Verses 21 to 23 close with the LORD who sees every path and the sinner trapped in his own cords.

Why this chapter matters

The chapter is the Bible's most direct piece of practical advice on sexual fidelity, and its method is telling: it does not argue that desire is bad but that it should be directed home. "Rejoice in the wife of your youth" and "may you be captivated by her love forever" are among the warmest lines about married love in Scripture and refute the idea that the Bible is prudish. The picture of the man at the end of his life saying "How I hated discipline" has been the pattern for every sermon on the long-term cost of short-term pleasure. Verse 21, "a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD," gives the whole chapter its weight.

Interpretive tension to watch

The speech is addressed to a son about a woman, as all of Proverbs 1 to 9 is, and readers must decide how to hear it as women, or about men who seduce; the principle plainly runs both ways. Who the "forbidden woman" is has been debated: another man's wife, a foreigner, a prostitute, or, in the wider book, folly itself personified against Lady Wisdom. Verses 9 and 10 describe economic ruin whose exact mechanism is unclear. And the chapter's frankness about physical delight in verse 19 has embarrassed translators and preachers who would rather it were more spiritual than it is.

Preguntas para este capítulo

The forbidden woman's words are sweet at the start and bitter at the end. What temptations look like that in your own life?
The chapter answers adultery not with a prohibition alone but with delight in one's own marriage. Why is that a better defense?
Verse 22 says a man is held by the cords of his own sin. How does a choice become a trap?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

Añadir a notas

1 HIJO mío, está atento á mi sabiduría, y á mi inteligencia inclina tu oído; 2 Para que guardes consejo, y tus labios conserven la ciencia. 3 Porque los labios de la extraña destilan miel, y su paladar es más blando que el aceite: 4 Mas su fin es amargo como el ajenjo, agudo como cuchillo de dos filos. 5 Sus pies descienden á la muerte; sus pasos sustentan el sepulcro: 6 Sus caminos son instables; no [los] conocerás, si no considerares el camino de vida. 7 Ahora pues, hijos, oidme, y no os apartéis de las razones de mi boca. 8 Aleja de ella tu camino, y no te acerques á la puerta de su casa; 9 Porque no des á los extraños tu honor, y tus años á cruel; 10 Porque no se harten los extraños de tu fuerza, y tus trabajos [estén] en casa del extraño; 11 Y gimas en tus postrimerías, cuando se consumiere tu carne y tu cuerpo, 12 Y digas: ¡Cómo aborrecí el consejo, y mi corazón menospreció la reprensión; 13 Y no oí la voz de los que me adoctrinaban, y á los que me enseñaban no incliné mi oído! 14 Casi en todo mal he estado, en medio de la sociedad y de la congregación. 15 Bebe el agua de tu cisterna, y los raudales de tu pozo. 16 Derrámense por de fuera tus fuentes, en las plazas los ríos de aguas. 17 Sean para ti solo, y no para los extraños contigo. 18 Sea bendito tu manantial; y alégrate con la mujer de tu mocedad. 19 [Como] cierva amada y graciosa corza, sus pechos te satisfagan en todo tiempo; y en su amor recréate siempre. 20 ¿Y por qué, hijo mío, andarás ciego con la ajena, y abrazarás el seno de la extraña? 21 Pues que los caminos del hombre están ante los ojos de Jehová, y él considera todas sus veredas. 22 Prenderán al impío sus propias iniquidades, y detenido será con las cuerdas de su pecado. 23 El morirá por falta de corrección; y errará por la grandeza de su locura.

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