A plain round stone well in a walled courtyard in clear early morning, its wooden lid set aside, a rope and a clay jar on the rim, a calm pale wall and sky above.

The father’s talks

Proverbs 5

Some things taste sweet going in. It is worth asking what they cost by the end.

23 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–7The father's talksWhy the book exists, then a father to his sonChapter 5
8–9Wisdom callsHer house and Folly's
10–22:16Solomon's sayingsTwo lines at a time
22:17–24The sayings of the wiseThirty sayings, and a few more
25–29Hezekiah's collectionMore of Solomon, copied out later
30AgurNumbered sayings from a weary man
31LemuelA mother's words, and the noble wife

Avoiding Immorality

My son, pay attention to my wisdom;

incline your ear to my insight,

that you may maintain discretion

and your lips may preserve knowledge.

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She does not consider the path of life;

she does not know that her ways are unstable.

Reflect

Follow it to the end

Name one thing that looks sweet to you right now. Then do what the father does and follow it to the end. Where does that road come out?

Plain daylight in a narrow stone lane of an Israelite town: far down it a shut plank door in a plain wall, and in the foreground the lane bends away.

Keep your path far from her;

do not go near the door of her house,

lest you concede your vigor to others,

and your years to one who is cruel;

lest strangers feast on your wealth,

and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

Dusk inside a plain stone gateway: an old man in a plain wool robe sits alone on the bench, seen from behind and to the side, head low, hands open on his knees, while men pass without looking.

At the end of your life you will groan

when your flesh and your body are spent,

and you will say, “How I hated discipline,

and my heart despised reproof!

I did not listen to the voice of my teachers

or incline my ear to my mentors.

I am on the brink of utter ruin

in the midst of the whole assembly.”

0:19

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Question

Quick question

Listen to what the man says at the end of his life.

In 5:11–14, what does the man regret most?

Drink water from your own cistern,

and running water from your own well.

Morning in an empty town square: a thin bright stream runs to waste along the paving, past a shut doorway, sparkling in the gutter stones.

Why should your springs flow in the streets,

your streams of water in the public squares?

Let them be yours alone,

never to be shared with strangers.

May your fountain be blessed,

and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

A loving doe, a graceful fawn—

may her breasts satisfy you always;

may you be captivated by her love forever.

Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress,

or embrace the bosom of a stranger?

For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD,

and the LORD examines all his paths.

Proverbs 5:21

The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him;

the cords of his sin entangle him.

He dies for lack of discipline,

led astray by his own great folly.

Pray

A clean heart, a glad home

Ask God for a clean heart. If you are married, ask Him for a glad and faithful home. If you are not, ask Him to keep you whole and free. Pray it knowing that “the LORD examines all his paths,” and that He is merciful.

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Proverbs 5

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A verse to carry with you

For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.

Proverbs 5:21

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