Proverbs 5:21

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 5:21

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord ,.... Both good and bad; the ways of a chaste and virtuous man, who cleaves to his own wife and shuns the harlot, which are approved of by the Lord; and the ways of a lewd man, all the impure thoughts, desires, and contrivances of his mind, and all the steps he takes to commit lewdness, and all the filthy actions he is guilty of, these are all open and naked to the omniscient God: the adulterer seeks the twilight, and flatters himself... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Proverbs 5:21

For the ways of a man - Whether they are public or private, God sees all the steps thou takest in life. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 5:1-23

8. Eighth admonitory discourse. Warning against adultery, and commendation of marriage. The teacher, in this discourse, recurs to a subject which he has glanced at before in Proverbs 2:15-19 , and which he again treats of in the latter part of the sixth and in the whole of the seventh chapters. This constant recurrence to the same subject, repulsive on account of its associations, shows, however, the importance which it had in the teacher's estimation as a ground of warning, and that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 5:15-21

Fidelity and bliss in marriage The counterpart of the foregoing warning against vice, placing connubial joys in the brightest light, of poetic fancy. I. IMAGES OF WIFEHOOD . The wife is described: 1 . As a spring, and as a cistern. Property in a spring or well was highly, even sacredly, esteemed. Hence a peculiar force in the comparison. The wife is the husband's peculiar delight and property; the source of pleasures of every kind and degree; the fruitful origin of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 5:20-21

The adulterer to be restrained by the fact of God ' s omniscience and the Divine punishment. Proverbs 5:20 and Proverbs 5:21 should apparently be taken together. The teaching assumes a higher tone, and rises from the lower law which regulates fidelity to the wife, based upon personal attractions, to the higher law, which brings the husband's conduct into relation with the duty he owes to Jehovah. Not merely is his conduct to be regulated by love and affection alone, but it is to be... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 5:21

For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. The obvious meaning here is that as "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" ( Proverbs 15:3 ), there is no possibility of any act of immorality escaping God's notice. The consciousness of this fact is to be the restraining motive, inasmuch as he who sees will also punish every transgression. The great truth acknowledged here is the omniscience of God, a truth which is borne witness to in almost... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 5:21

Under the eyes of God I. WE ARE ALWAYS UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYES OF GOD . God is no epicurean Divinity, retreating far above mundane affairs in celestial seclusion. He is not indifferent to what goes on in this little world. He is watchful and observant. This fact may not affect us much while we think of it in the general. But we should observe that God's watchfulness is directed to all particular, individual objects. He looks at each of us, at the smallest of our concerns.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 5:21

God the all-seeing Judge "Before Jehovah's eyes are man's paths, and all his tracks he surveys." I. CYNICAL PROVERBS CONCERNING SECRECY ARE CONDEMNED . Such as "What the eye sees not, the heart does not grieve over;" "A slice from a cut cake is never missed;" "Never mind so long as you are not found out." II. NOTHING IS REALLY SECRET OR UNKNOWN . We are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. The whisper, the inarticulate thought, will... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 5:21

Man in God's view This verse is added as a powerful reason why the worst sins should be avoided. A man under temptation may well address himself thus— "Nor let my weaker passions dare Consent to sin; for God is there." I. THE VARIED ENERGIES AND ACTIONS OF MAN . Many are "the ways of man;" "all his goings" cannot easily be told. There is Or we may consider the variety of his actions by regarding them as The forms of human activity are indefinitely numerous—so... read more

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