Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo

Proverbs 5

Proverbs 5 exposes adultery’s ruinous end and commends faithful delight in marriage under YHWH’s searching gaze.

A father instructs his son about adultery, contrasting its sweet promises with the ruin that follows. He urges his sons to keep far from the adulteress’s door, then imagines the regret of someone who rejected correction and lost his honor and wealth. The teaching turns toward delight in one’s wife, using images of water and a spring. It closes with YHWH’s scrutiny of human conduct and the cords of sin that trap the wicked.

temptationmarriage strain
Read
1My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
2that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
4but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
5Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.
6She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
7Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
8Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
9lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
10lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.
11You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
13I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
14I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.”
15Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
16Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
18Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
20For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
21For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
23He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Proverbs 5:21YHWH sees every human path, placing the chapter’s warnings about sexual conduct under his knowledge and judgment.
Proverbs 5:22The image of cords shows how the wicked person’s own deeds become the means of his captivity.
Proverbs 5:12The imagined confession traces ruin back to a heart that hated instruction and despised correction.
Where this chapter reaches

Psalm and Job share this chapter’s claim that God sees human conduct, including paths that people might think are hidden from view. Song of Songs shares its imagery of springs and deer, and its frank language of delight between lovers.

Proverbs 5's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book
Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out to you in the contrast between the adulteress’s first appeal and the regret that follows?

Write on this

How does the image of sin as cords shape your understanding of the warning to keep far away?

Write on this

Questions people ask about Proverbs 5

What does “Drink water out of your own cistern” mean in Proverbs 5?

The cistern and well picture sexual love within marriage. The surrounding verses make the image clear: the son is told to rejoice in his wife and be satisfied with her affection. The contrast with strangers and the adulteress stresses the exclusive bond between husband and wife.

What are “The cords of his sin” in Proverbs 5:22?

The cords are an image of entrapment: the wicked person’s own evil deeds bind him. In context, the warning follows the account of adultery’s costs and the statement that YHWH examines every path. The closing verse connects this ruin with rejected instruction and great folly.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on Proverbs 5. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

Proverbs · 31 chapters
12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031
What the Bible says about temptation →What the Bible says about marriage →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).