Proverbs 5
An exhortation to fly unlawful lust, and the occasions of it.
1My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence, 2so that you may guard your thinking, and so that your lips may preserve discipline. Do not pay attention to the deceit of a woman. 3For the lips of a loose woman are like a dripping honeycomb, and her voice is smoother than oil. ▼▼5:3The word ‘meretricis’ can mean prostitute, but it can also, more often, refer to a woman who behaves like a prostitute: either a kept woman with only one lover, or a promiscuous woman with many lovers. The translation as ‘loose woman’ is a better fit for the meaning of the text. As is clear from the previous verse, this passage is not merely warning against prostitution, but against loose living.(Conte)
4But in the end, she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword. 5Her feet descend into death, and her steps reach even to Hell. 6They do not walk along the path of life; her steps are wandering and untraceable. 7Therefore, my son, listen to me now, and do not withdraw from the words of my mouth. 8Make your way at a distance from her, and do not approach the doors of her house. 9Do not give your honor to foreigners, and your years to the cruel. 10Otherwise, outsiders may be filled with your strength, and your labors may be in a foreign house, 11and you may mourn in the end, when you will have consumed your flesh and your body. And so you may say: 12“Why have I detested discipline, and why has my heart not been quieted by correction? 13And why have I not listened to the voice of those who guided me? And why has my ear not inclined to my teachers? 14I have almost been with all evil in the midst of the church and of the assembly.” 15Drink water from your own cistern and from the springs of your own well. 16Let your fountains be diverted far and wide, and divide your waters in the streets. ▼▼5:16This verse seems to contradict the previous and subsequent verses. The original Douay-Rheims version has a note that relates water to doctrine. My understanding of that note: distribute good doctrine far and wide among men of sincere intention, but not to those who make themselves to be foreigners to the truth.(Conte)
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▼▼5:16The previous verse (5:15) refers to drinking water from ones own well. This can refer to doctrine, as verses 12 to 14 indicate. This can also refer to chastity and marriage, as the subsequent verses indicate. However, verse 5:16 cannot be taken to refer to sexuality, but only to doctrine. It often happens, as Scripture weaves together comments on a variety of related subjects, that some verses are to be understood more narrowly, and others more broadly.(Conte)
17Hold them for yourself alone, and do not let strangers be partakers with you. ▼▼5:17When applied to doctrine, this verse and the previous one can be understood in a number of ways. Concerning doctrine, one can distribute it far and wide, sharing it in the streets. Or one can keep it to oneself, so that only you and God know your thoughts about the Faith. But in either case, one cannot ‘let strangers be partakers’ casting the pearls of true doctrine before those swine who ridicule and despise the truth.(Conte)
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▼▼5:17It is not so unusual to have two consecutive verses that seem to contradict one another. This technique of writing causes the reader to think about the correct meaning of each verse. This is also seen later in Proverbs when the topic is responding to the foolish according to their folly.(Conte)
18Let your spring be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth: ▼ 19a beloved doe and most pleasing fawn. Let her breasts inebriate you at all times. Be delighted continually by her love. 20Why are you seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and why are you kept warm by the bosom of another? 21The Lord beholds the ways of man, and he considers all his steps. 22His own iniquities take hold of the impious, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins. 23He shall die, for he has not held to discipline. And by the multitude of his foolishness, he shall be deceived.
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