Bible Version: New International Version (NIV)
Application Notes: Life Application Study Bible (NIV)
PROVERBS 5
Warning Against Adultery
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
7 Now then, my sons, listen to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Keep to a path far from her,
do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you lose your honor to others
and your dignity to one who is cruel,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich the house of another.
11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!
13 I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 And I was soon in serious trouble
in the assembly of God’s people.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
21 For your ways are in full view of the Lord,
and he examines all your paths.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
the cords of their sins hold them fast.
23 For lack of discipline they will die,
led astray by their own great folly.
Application Notes
5:3-8 We should be on guard against those who use flattery and smooth talk (this is what is meant by lips that “drip honey”) who may lead us or others into sin. Take a detour to avoid conversation with such people if possible.
5:3 This adulterous woman is likely a prostitute. In Proverbs, a prostitute's charm is used as an example of any temptation to do wrong or to leave the pursuit of wisdom. This book includes many warnings against illicit sex for several reasons. One is that sexual immorality of any kind was and still is extremely dangerous—it destroys family life, erodes a person's ability to love, and degrades human beings by turning them into objects of lust. It can also lead to disease and can result in children who are often neglected and made to feel like they are unwanted. Even more importantly, God's law forbids sexual immorality.
5:11-13 When temptation strikes, it's too late to ask for preventative advice. When desire is fully activated, people don't want advice—they want gratification. The best time to learn the dangers and foolishness of going after forbidden desires is long before the temptation arrives. Resistance is more effective when you have decided ahead of time what you must avoid. Then when temptation strikes, you will be less likely to linger around to see what happens. Prepare for temptation by deciding now how you will act when you face it.
5:15-21 In contrast to much of what we read, see, and hear today, this passage urges couples to look to each other for lifelong satisfaction and companionship. Many temptations entice husbands and wives to check out or leave altogether when marriage becomes stressful or dull in order to find excitement, pleasure, and release elsewhere. And through easy digital access, pornography has ruined countless marriages. But God designed marriage and sanctified it, and only within this covenant relationship can sex result in real love and fulfillment. Don't let God's best for you be wasted on the illusion of greener pastures somewhere else. Instead, if you are married, rejoice with your spouse as you give yourselves to God and to each other.
5:15 “Drink water from your own cistern” paints a picture of faithfulness in marriage. It means to enjoy the spouse God has given you. In the dry lands of the Bible world, water was precious, and a well or cistern (an underground water storage tank cut in stone) was a family's most important possession. In Old Testament times, it was considered a crime to steal water from someone else's cistern, just as it was a crime to have intercourse with another person's spouse. In both cases, the offender endangered the health and security of the family.
5:18-20 God does not intend faithfulness in marriage to be boring, lifeless, pleasureless, or dull. Sex is a gift God gives to married people for their mutual enjoyment. Real happiness in sex comes when a person decides to find pleasure in the spouse God has given or will give them, and to commit themselves to meeting their spouse's needs. The real danger comes when we doubt that God really knows or cares about what we really need in a marriage relationship. We then may resent his timing and carelessly pursue sexual pleasure without his blessing.
5:19 See Song of Songs 4 for parallels to this frank expression of the joys of sexual pleasure in marriage.
Taken from Life Application Study Bible - Third Edition - (NIV)