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15 
[a]Drink water from your own [b]cistern [of a pure marriage relationship]
And fresh running water from your own well.
16 
Should your [c]springs (children) be dispersed,
As streams of water in the streets?
17 
[Confine yourself to your own wife.] Let your children be yours alone,
And not the children of strangers with you.
18 
Let your fountain (wife) be blessed [with the rewards of fidelity],
And rejoice in the wife of your youth.(A)
19 
Let her be as a loving hind and graceful doe,
Let her breasts refresh and satisfy you at all times;
Always be [d]exhilarated and delight in her love.
20 
Why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an immoral woman
And embrace the bosom of an outsider (pagan)?
21 
For the ways of man are directly before the eyes of the Lord,
And He carefully watches all of his paths [all of his comings and goings].(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 5:15 All of the Ten Commandments are reflected in the book of Proverbs; here it is the seventh, “You shall not commit adultery.”
  2. Proverbs 5:15 Vv 15-18 describe the purity of a man’s relationship in marriage. The cistern and well represent his wife.
  3. Proverbs 5:16 I.e. children of one’s promiscuity who are fatherless.
  4. Proverbs 5:19 Lit stagger (with passion).

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