New European Version: Old Testament

Deeper commentary on this chapter

Audio talks on this chapter:

 

Video presentations on this chapter:

 

Other material relevant to this chapter:

 

Hear this chapter read:

 

 

About | PDFs | Mobile formats | Word formats | Other languages | Contact Us | What is the Gospel? | Support the work | Carelinks Ministries | | The Real Christ | The Real Devil | "Bible Companion" Daily Bible reading plan


CHAPTER 5 Mar. 27 
The Dangers of Adultery
My 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 honour to others, and your years to the cruel one; 10lest foreigners feast on your wealth, and your labours 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; 13neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me! 14I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly.  15Drink water out of your own cistern, springing water out of your own spring. 16Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares? 17Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you. 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 eyes of Yahweh, 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 own folly he will go astray. 

Commentary


5:5 Sheol is translated in some Bibles as “hell”, but the word refers simply to the grave, which is how it is often translated. Here it is parallel with “death”, as in 7:27. It doesn’t refer to any place of eternal conscious torment.
5:15 Springing water out of your own spring- The metaphor likens the man’s wife to a spring of ever fresh water which is personally for himself. A husband should find in his wife something ever fresh, and thus marriages blessed by God don’t default into the same old scene scenario, there’s always something fresh and new for us in each other if we perceive our partners as we should.
5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh- Sexual unfaithfulness is precluded by the fact that God sees and knows all things; Job likewise answered a false accusation of marital infidelity by saying that this wasn’t possible for him, because he lived in the constant presence of the God who sees all things (Job 31:1-4).