Proverbs 5 KJV: The Economics and Ethics of Covenant Loyalty

Proverbs 5 issues a high-stakes warning against the seduction of adultery by contrasting the temporary sweetness of lust with the permanent ruin of its consequences. This chapter prioritizes the preservation of one's legacy and wealth by anchoring sexual desire within the covenant of marriage. It warns that straying from fidelity is not just a moral failure but a strategic liquidation of one's own vitality and assets.

  1. v1-6: The Deceptive Allure of the Stranger
  2. v7-14: The Physical and Financial Cost of Sin
  3. v15-20: The Exclusive Joy of Marital Love
  4. v21-23: The Unseen Accountability of the Creator

Proverbs chapter 5

My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Protect your future by valuing the exclusive boundaries of marriage over the destructive path of transient pleasure. Begin your study with proverbs 5 summary.

Observe how Solomon portrays adultery as a form of theft where your hard-earned 'honor' and 'years' are handed over to a cruel stranger. The 'Word Secret' is Naphath, meaning the 'dripping' of a honeycomb, which illustrates how temptation is designed to feel effortless and sweet at the start but ends in a sharp, two-edged blade. Discover the riches with proverbs 5 commentary, containing expert led word study (original greek/hebrew) and passage level analysis.

Unlock the hidden proverbs 5 1 meaning and summary by exploring context, analyzing original greek and hebrew words, and studying cross references of each verse.

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2 min read (354 words)