Proverbs 5:15-20 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Proverbs 5:15-23

Solomon, having shown the great evil that there is in adultery and fornication, and all such lewd and filthy courses, here prescribes remedies against them. I. Enjoy with satisfaction the comforts of lawful marriage, which was ordained for the prevention of uncleanness, and therefore ought to be made use of in time, lest it should not prove effectual for the cure of that which it might have prevented. Let none complain that God has dealt unkindly with them in forbidding them those pleasures... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 5:15

Drink waters out of thine own cistern ,.... Arguments being used to dissuade from conversation with an adulterous woman, taken from the disgrace, diseases, poverty, and distress of mind on reflection, it brings a man to; the wise man proceeds to direct to marriage, as a proper antidote against it: take a wife and cleave to her, and enjoy all the pleasures and comforts of a marriage state. As every man formerly had his own cistern for the reception of water for his own use, 2 Kings 18:31 ;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 5:16

Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad ,.... Or "shall abound", as the Targum; that is, streams of water from fountains; which Aben Ezra interprets of a multitude of children, namely, that are lawfully begotten: the "fountains" are the man and his wife in lawful marriage; the streams are their offspring lawfully procreated by them; which may be said to be "dispersed abroad", when being grown up they are disposed of in marriage in other families, and so become fountains to others, and public... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 5:17

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. Or "they shall be thine own" F21 יהיו לך "erunt tui", Mercerus, Cocceius; "erunt tibi", Baynus; "existent tibi", Schultens. , as the Targum; meaning not the cistern, the well, or the wife, but the fountains and rivers, or the children; by a man's cleaving to his own wife, who is a chaste and virtuous woman, he is satisfied that the children he has by her are his own, and not another's; whereas if he has to do with a common... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 5:18

Let thy fountain be blessed ,.... Thy wife; make her happy by keeping to her and from others; by behaving in a loving, affable, and respectful manner to her; by living comfortably with her, and providing well for her and her children: or reckon her a happiness, a blessing that God has bestowed; or "thy fountain shall be blessed,' as the Targum; that is, with a numerous offspring, which was always reckoned a blessedness, and was generally the happiness of virtuous women, when harlots were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 5:19

Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe ,.... That is, the wife of youth; let her always appear to thee as amiable and lovely as these creatures are; or let her be loved by thee as these are by princes and great men F23 "Cervus erat forma praestanti", &c.; Virgil. Aeneid l. 7. , who used to keep them tame, keep them clean, wash, comb them, and adorn them, and play with them; or rather, as these creatures are loving to their mates, let thy love be single, chaste, pure, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 5:20

And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman ,.... Or "err with her" F25 "Errares", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "aberrares", Cocceius. ; after all those inconveniences and miseries that follow upon a conversation with a harlot, and all those advantages of a marriage state set before thee; why wilt thou be, so foolish and mad as to have a fondness for an harlot and dote upon her, and neglect entering into a marriage state, or forsake the wife of youth? and yet... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Proverbs 5:15

Drink waters out of thine own cistern - Be satisfied with thy own wife; and let the wife see that she reverence her husband; and not tempt him by inattention or unkindness to seek elsewhere what he has a right to expect, but cannot find, at home. read more

Adam Clarke