Proverbs 5:15-19
Expanded Bible
15 ·Be faithful to your own wife [L Drink water from your own well; Song 4:10–15],
·just as you drink [L gushing] water from your own ·well [cistern].
16 Don’t ·pour your water in the streets [L let your fountains burst forth outside];
·don’t give your love to just any woman [L streams of water in the public squares].
17 These things are yours alone
and shouldn’t be shared with strangers.
18 ·Be happy with the wife you married when you were young [L Rejoice in the wife of your youth].
·She gives you joy, as your fountain gives you water [L May your spring be blessed].
19 She is a lovely deer and a graceful doe.
Let her ·love [or breasts] always make you happy;
let her love always ·hold you captive [intoxicate/inebriate you; Song 4:10].
Proverbs 5:15-19
Amplified Bible
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.
Footnotes
- 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.”
- Proverbs 5:15 Vv 15-18 describe the purity of a man’s relationship in marriage. The cistern and well represent his wife.
- Proverbs 5:16 I.e. children of one’s promiscuity who are fatherless.
- Proverbs 5:19 Lit stagger (with passion).
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
