Proverbs 5: Warning Against Adultery and the Joy of Covenant Marriage

Proverbs 5 is the most extended treatment of sexual immorality in the entire book of Proverbs - a father’s sustained, urgent warning to his son about the seductive path that leads to death, followed by a commanding celebration of covenant marriage and a sober reminder that God sees every path a man walks.

Written by Solomon around 950-930 BC as part of the ten father-to-son discourses that open Proverbs (chapters 1-9), this chapter is a masterwork of consequence. The adulteress is described with precision: her lips drip honey and her mouth is smooth as oil, but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. The chapter then pivots abruptly from warning to celebration, commanding the son to drink from his own cistern and to rejoice in the wife of his youth. Solomon closes with the theological weight that has made this chapter enduringly relevant: “For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.” The cords of sin hold the wicked man - not as external punishment, but as the natural consequence woven into the act itself.

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Quick Answer

Proverbs 5 is Solomon’s warning against adultery and call to covenant marriage: flee the seductive path that ends in death and regret, and find deep, God-witnessed joy in faithfulness to your wife.

About Proverbs 5

Proverbs 5 belongs to the opening movement of the book - chapters 1-9, a structured collection of ten discourses from a father to his son, composed by Solomon around 950-930 BC. This chapter is the longest and most focused treatment of sexual immorality in that collection, 23 verses organized in three movements: a warning portrait of the adulteress (vv. 1-14), a countercommand to covenant joy (vv. 15-20), and a closing verdict from God (vv. 21-23).

The warning portrait is precise and psychologically sophisticated. The adulteress is not presented as obviously dangerous - her lips drip honey, her mouth is smoother than oil. The danger is in her path, not her face. “In the end she is as bitter as wormwood, as sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death.” The imagination of the ruined son’s future voice in verses 11-14 is the rhetorical center: “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof. I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers.” The poem of regret arrives too late to save him - that is the point. Solomon is asking his son to hear that voice before it has to be spoken.

The pivot in verses 15-20 is one of the most beautiful turns in Proverbs. The imagery shifts from the seductive stranger to the faithful wife - a cistern of your own, a well of running water, a spring of life meant for you alone. The language of satisfaction and captivation (“let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be captivated always with her love”) is deliberate and physical. Solomon is not telling his son to settle for less. He is commanding him to find his deepest, most fully satisfied desire in the covenant relationship God designed for him. “Rejoice in the wife of your youth” is not a consolation - it is a command toward maximum flourishing.

The closing verdict in verses 21-23 frames everything in a theological key: the LORD sees every path, every step. The wicked man is not trapped by an external punishment from God but by the cords of his own sin. Solomon’s theology of consequence is built into the fabric of creation. This is why Proverbs 5 reads as relevant in every era - the mechanism it describes is not cultural, it is structural.

Full Chapter Text

Proverbs 5 (World English Bible)

My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
lest you give your honour to others, and your years to the cruel one;
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labours enrich another man’s house.
You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
I have come to the brink of utter ruin, amongst the gathered assembly.”
Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe and a graceful deer - let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

World English Bible. Public domain.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main message of Proverbs 5?

Solomon warns his son that adultery is a seductive path leading to death, regret, and ruin - then commands him to find his deepest satisfaction in covenant marriage, knowing God sees every step. The chapter moves from danger to delight: the same energy that makes adultery seem appealing belongs, by God’s design, inside faithful marriage.

Who wrote Proverbs 5?

Proverbs 5 is attributed to Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, who reigned approximately 970-930 BC. The father-to-son discourses in Proverbs 1-9 bear his authorship, and most scholars accept Solomonic composition for this section of the book, dated to around 950-930 BC during his reign.

What does “Rejoice in the wife of your youth” mean?

Verse 18 is Solomon’s command to find deep, deliberate, ongoing delight in the wife you married when young - not passive contentment, but an active, cultivated joy in covenant fidelity that grows stronger with time and that the LORD watches over. The Hebrew verb translated “rejoice” (samach) is the same word used of Israel’s commanded festivals - a full, participatory gladness, not a reluctant resignation.

How many verses are in Proverbs 5?

Proverbs 5 contains 23 verses.

What is the structure of Proverbs 5?

The chapter divides into three movements: a warning portrait of the adulteress and her deadly path (vv. 1-14), a countercommand to find full satisfaction in covenant marriage (vv. 15-20), and a closing theological verdict that the LORD examines every path and sin’s cords bind the wicked man (vv. 21-23). The pivot from warning to celebration at verse 15 is one of the sharpest turns in Proverbs.

What is the significance of the cistern and well imagery in Proverbs 5?

In the ancient Near East, a cistern was a private water supply carved into rock beneath a household - a personal, bounded source of life. Solomon’s command to “drink water out of your own cistern” frames the faithful wife as precisely that: a source of life that belongs to you alone, not public property. The contrast with the adulteress’s “smooth lips” and “honey” - attractive but deadly - is deliberate. Your own cistern may seem less exciting than a public fountain; Solomon says the full satisfaction available inside covenant marriage is the deeper thrill.

How does Proverbs 5 connect to the New Testament?

Jesus takes up the warning of Proverbs 5 in Matthew 5:27-28, internalizing it: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The apostle Paul grounds covenant marriage in the mystery of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:22-33), and Hebrews 13:4 echoes Proverbs 5’s verdict: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”

Is Proverbs 5 only about physical adultery?

The chapter is directly about sexual and marital faithfulness - Solomon names the adulteress explicitly and uses physical language for both the warning and the celebration. Some commentators extend the application to any seductive path that promises more than it delivers and ends in ruin, paralleling Proverbs’ broader use of the foolish woman as a symbol of folly itself. But the primary, literal referent is sexual fidelity in marriage. The New Testament’s expansion into heart-level purity (Matthew 5) and the mystery of marital union (Ephesians 5) grows from this foundation.

What does Proverbs 5 say about God’s knowledge?

Verses 21-23 deliver the chapter’s theological anchor: “The ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.” God’s omniscience is not presented here as a surveillance threat but as a structural reality that makes the chapter’s entire argument coherent. The man who thought he was hidden was never hidden. The cords of sin that hold him are not imposed from outside - they are woven by his own choices under the gaze of the one who sees everything.

Proverbs 2 - 50days.io/bible/proverbs/2 - Solomon’s earlier warning against the adulteress and praise of wisdom’s path as the alternative to sexual folly
Proverbs 7 - 50days.io/bible/proverbs/7 - The most extended portrait of the adulteress in Proverbs; the full narrative of the young man who follows her to his ruin
Proverbs 31 - 50days.io/bible/proverbs/31 - The noble wife as the positive counterpart to Proverbs 5’s warning; wisdom embodied in a godly woman
Song of Solomon 1 - 50days.io/bible/song-of-solomon/1 - The unashamed celebration of covenant marital love that Proverbs 5 commands the son to find

Reading Plans Featuring This Chapter

50 Days Through Wisdom Literature - a curated journey through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Solomon

Sources and Further Reading

Tremper Longman III, Proverbs (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, 2006) - standard academic commentary on Proverbs
The Bible Project: Proverbs Overview - bibleproject.com/explore/video/proverbs
Full chapter text at Bible Gateway - biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+5

About Psalm Selah

Psalm Selah is the cinematic indie-folk project of Psalmody Press, a male and female duo bringing Scripture into the sonic world of contemporary indie - fingerpicked acoustic guitar, cello-led strings, brushed drums, mandolin shimmer, and two voices used as a per-song lever (a raw male lead, an ethereal female lead, harmony, duo, or solo). Their signature compositional move is build choreography - every song-structure transition is locked 1:1 to an instrumentation event, so the song’s shape is its instrumentation order. Their signature lyric move is the structural Selah - a held silence inside the song, sonic and lyrical, where the listener is asked to pause and consider what was just said. They are setting every chapter of the Bible to song, with particular attention to the wisdom literature, the parables of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, the apocalyptic books, and the chapters of Scripture where careful, lyrical attention rewards close listening.

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Published 2026-05-24 · Last updated 2026-05-24
Written by Reid Wender, Editorial Director at Psalmody Press