Proverbs 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 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.

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