Proverbs 5

A father urges his son to listen to wisdom and stay far from the adulterous woman, whose sweet words lead to ruin. He then points the son toward joy and faithfulness in marriage, and ends by reminding him that the LORD sees every path and that folly traps those who refuse correction.

Proverbs 5:1-2

The father calls his son to listen closely. Wisdom is not just heard but taken in and kept. Careful listening helps a person act with sound judgment and speak words that guard what is true, which prepares him for the warning that follows.

BSA: incline (“stretch, turn”): Listening takes effort, like leaning toward a voice so as not to miss it. preserve (“keep, watch over”): Knowledge is a treasure to be guarded, and the lips act as its guards.

Proverbs 5:3

The forbidden woman is tempting because her words are sweet and smooth. Flattery is her tool. Sin rarely announces its cost at the start; it comes dressed in honey and oil, which is exactly why it needs warning.

BSA: forbidden (“strange, adulteress”): She is someone who is off limits, outside the bounds of marriage. smoother (“more soft, flattering”): Her speech is flattery, pleasant to the ear but meant to catch him.

Hebrew: זָרָה (zarah, H2114) — “strange, foreign, outsider.” The Hebrew word means someone who does not belong, here a woman outside the covenant of marriage. It is the same idea as the stranger in later verses.

Proverbs 5:4

The sweetness does not last. What began as honey ends as bitter poison and a cutting blade. The verse looks at the end result, not the first taste. Sin’s pleasure is short, and its pain lingers.

BSA: end (“her final outcome, last part”): The test of any path is where it finally arrives, not how it begins. wormwood (“a poisonous plant”): It pictures something bitter that harms the one who swallows it.

See also: James 1:14-15.

Proverbs 5:5

Her road is a downward one. Each step carries a man closer to death and the grave. This is more than a figure of speech: the path of immoral desire leads away from life, from God’s blessing and from real happiness.

BSA: Sheol (“the underworld, place of no return, hell”): It is the realm of the dead, showing how final the end of this road can be.

See also: Proverbs 7:27.

Proverbs 5:6

She does not stop to think where she is going. Her ways wander, and she does not realize it. She has no steady path, and anyone who follows her will be led into the same uncertainty and ruin.

BSA: unstable (“moveable, uncertain, shaken”): Her paths shift and wander, giving no firm footing.

Proverbs 5:7

The father speaks again to all his sons and asks for obedience, not just hearing. The warning matters enough that he repeats the call. A wise person takes it in and does not drift away from it.

BSA: listen (“hear and obey”): True listening means doing what is heard.

Proverbs 5:8

The best defense is distance. He does not say to go near and resist; he says to stay far away and avoid even her door. Wisdom knows its own weakness and does not test it needlessly.

BSA: far (“remove, go far away from”): The command is to take an active step away, not just to hold back.

See also: 2 Timothy 2:22.

Proverbs 5:9-10

The father names the costs: strength, years and earnings handed over to others. Sin takes more than a person plans to give. Life’s best energy and the fruit of honest work can end up enriching those who only use him.

BSA: vigor (“strength, vitality”): The loss is the very strength of a man’s life, not only money. labors (“toil, painful work”): Years of hard work can end up benefiting someone else.

Proverbs 5:11

The picture moves to the end of life. Looking back, the man groans over wasted strength and a ruined body. Regret comes late, when it is too late to undo what was done.

BSA: groan (“mourn, be in distress”): It is a deep, bitter moan of regret, not mild sorrow.

Proverbs 5:12-13

The ruined man now sees that the real problem was a heart that hated correction. He had teachers and warnings, but he would not listen. The verses invite us to listen now so we will not need this confession later.

BSA: despised (“spurned, scorned”): He did more than ignore correction; he held it in contempt. discipline (“instruction, correction”): It is the training that would have kept him on the right path.

Proverbs 5:14

His fall is public. Sin that began in secret ends in disgrace before the whole community. He is almost wholly ruined, and others see it. The warning is meant to spare the son this shame.

BSA: assembly (“congregation, gathered community, crowd”): His disgrace is known to the whole people of God, not only to himself.

Proverbs 5:15

The tone turns warm. Marriage is pictured as water you own: a cistern and a well on your own property. The wise answer to temptation is not only to avoid wrong, but to find real satisfaction in the faithful love God has given you.

BSA: cistern (“pit, personal reservoir”): It is a private source of water that belongs to him alone, a picture of his own marriage. running (“flowing, dripping”): Fresh, flowing water pictures a living, ongoing love.

Proverbs 5:16-17

The father asks whether a man’s springs should spill into the streets. The question warns that wasted love and loyalty are lost to strangers. What belongs to marriage should stay in marriage, kept for the one to whom it was promised.

BSA: strangers (“foreigners, those outside your covenant”): Those outside the marriage covenant have no claim on what belongs to it.

Proverbs 5:18

Here is a blessing in place of a prohibition. The son is told to rejoice in the wife he married in youth. Marriage is God’s gift, to be enjoyed with gladness and kept faithful across the years.

BSA: blessed (“praised, honored by God”): A faithful marriage lives under God’s favor. youth (“early years, young age”): The call is to stay loyal to the one he began life with, not to look elsewhere as years pass.

See also: Malachi 2:14-15.

Proverbs 5:19

The doe and fawn are poetic images of a gentle, graceful beloved. The father openly honors marital love and desire as good. Faithfulness is not dull; it is meant to keep a husband delighted and satisfied over a lifetime.

BSA: captivated (“ravished, delighted”): The word suggests being deeply absorbed in joy, the right place for this devotion. satisfy (“quench, fulfill”): It pictures thirst fully met, a love that does not leave him wanting.

Hebrew: תִּשְׁגֶּה (tishgeh, H7686) — “you will be intoxicated, swept away, or wander.” The same word can mean to stray or to be carried away. The father says the son should be swept away by his own wife, not wander after a stranger.

Proverbs 5:20

The father asks a plain question: why be carried away by a woman who is not yours? After the picture of real joy, the alternative looks foolish and empty. The question invites the son to weigh the two paths for himself.

BSA: adulteress (“immoral woman, stranger”): She is outside the covenant, so the pleasure she offers is false and costly.

Proverbs 5:21

Nothing is hidden. Every path a man takes lies open before the LORD, who weighs it all. Secret sin is not secret to God. This is a sobering truth, and also a comfort, because God watches over those who walk faithfully.

BSA: examines (“investigates, ponders, weighs”): God does not glance at a man’s life; he weighs every step.

See also: Hebrews 4:13; Job 34:21.

Proverbs 5:22

The wicked man is caught by his own sins, like an animal in a snare. What he thought he could freely do becomes a rope that holds him. Sin promises freedom but gradually binds the one who practices it.

BSA: cords (“ropes, bonds”): Sin ties the sinner down, like ropes pulled tight.

See also: John 8:34.

Proverbs 5:23

The chapter ends where it began, with discipline. The man dies because he would not be taught, led off course by his own great folly. The wise listen and live; the fool refuses correction and wanders into ruin.

BSA: astray (“goes astray, wanders”): He drifts off the path step by step until he is lost. folly (“foolishness, silliness”): His ruin comes from his own foolish choices, which grow great through neglect.