Chapter Text
Warning Against Adultery
Summary
Solomon warns his son at length against the seductions of the immoral woman, whose lips drip honey and whose speech is smoother than oil, yet whose end is bitter as wormwood and sharp as a two-edged sword.
He counsels his son to keep far from her door, lest he give his honour unto others and his years unto the cruel. The chapter closes with an exhortation to rejoice in the wife of one's youth.
Meaning
This chapter addresses the devastating consequences of sexual immorality with unflinching honesty. The immoral woman represents any temptation that appears pleasant but leads to ruin and spiritual death.
Solomon's remedy is not mere avoidance but the cultivation of faithful married love. The instruction to drink water from one's own cistern and rejoice in the wife of one's youth celebrates the beauty of covenant faithfulness as God's design for human flourishing.
Background
Warnings against adultery appear frequently in ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature, but Solomon's treatment is distinctive in its theological grounding. Marital faithfulness reflects covenant loyalty to God Himself.
The imagery of cisterns and fountains draws on the water-scarce landscape of Israel, where a private water source was among a household's most precious possessions.
Chapter Outline
- vv. 1-2Call to attend to wisdom
- vv. 3-6The seduction and bitter end of the strange woman
- vv. 7-14Warning against approaching her house
- vv. 15-19Rejoice in the wife of thy youth
- vv. 20-23The Lord sees, and sin ensnares the wicked
Key Verses
“For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:”— 5:3
A vivid warning about the seductive allure of forbidden love, contrasting outward sweetness with inward destruction. This verse anchors the chapter's central metaphor of deceptive temptation.
“Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.”— 5:18
A celebrated affirmation of marital fidelity and joy, frequently cited in wedding homilies and teachings on covenant marriage. It presents faithful love as a blessing rather than mere duty.
“For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.”— 5:21
A foundational statement of divine omniscience, reminding the reader that no hidden sin escapes God's notice. It grounds the chapter's moral instruction in the reality of divine accountability.
People & Places
People
- The strange woman — The personified adulteress whose seductive speech leads the unwary to ruin.
- The wife of thy youth — The faithful spouse whom the son is exhorted to cherish and delight in.
Devotional
Solomon speaks here as a father who has watched men destroyed by choices that seemed sweet at first taste. His warning is not prudish but protective: what glitters often grinds, and shortcuts to intimacy carry hidden costs to honor, health, and home.
The positive vision is just as striking. Faithfulness within marriage is painted not as restraint but as overflowing joy — a blessed fountain, a delight to be savored. Whatever your season, guard your affections, honor your commitments, and remember that the Lord sees every step. What we cultivate in private becomes the harvest of our years.
Literary Style
Hebrew wisdom poetry in the form of a fatherly lecture, marked by antithetical and synonymous parallelism. The chapter employs vivid sensory metaphors — honeycomb, wormwood, cisterns, fountains — and contrasts the bitter path of folly with the blessed path of fidelity.