The Danger of the Unfaithful Woman
Study note
The father warns that temptation often comes disguised as something sweet and attractive. The unfaithful woman's words are compared to honey and smooth oil, but her path leads to bitterness and death. Her ways are unstable and unpredictable, making it hard for the young man to see the danger until it is too late.
1 My child, give your full attention to the wisdom I am sharing. Truly lean in and listen to what I understand. My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2 That way you will be able to make smart choices and speak with real knowledge. That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 An unfaithful woman's words taste as sweet as honey and slide off her tongue smoother than olive oil. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But when it is all said and done, she leaves you with something as bitter as poison and as painful as a double-edged blade. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5 The road she walks leads downhill straight to death. Every step she takes brings her closer to the grave. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6 She has never once stopped to consider the path that leads to real life. She wanders aimlessly and has no idea where she is going. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
The Painful Consequences of Unfaithfulness
Study note
The father describes the regret that comes from giving in to temptation: losing your honor, wasting years of your life, giving your wealth to strangers, and ending up sick and filled with regret. The person looks back and says, 'Why did I refuse to listen? Why did I ignore my teachers?' These consequences were very real in the ancient world, where adultery could lead to financial ruin and public shame.
7 So please, my children, listen to what I am saying and do not stray from my words. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Put as much distance between yourself and her as you possibly can. Do not go anywhere near her front door. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 If you don't listen, strangers will take your good name. You will waste your best years on someone cruel. Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 People you do not even know will walk off with your hard-earned wealth, and everything you built will end up in a stranger's house. Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 When your life is nearly over, you will groan in regret as disease eats away at your body. And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And you will say, "Why did I hate it when people tried to teach me? Why did I roll my eyes at correction?" And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 "I plugged my ears when my teachers spoke. I blew off every person who tried to guide me." And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 "I came within inches of total ruin, and it happened in plain sight of everyone around me." I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
Be Faithful to Your Own Wife
Study note
Using the beautiful image of a personal well or fountain, the father encourages his son to find joy and satisfaction in his own marriage. Water was precious in the dry land of Israel, and a personal cistern was a valuable treasure. The message is that the love within marriage is meant to be a source of deep, lasting joy.
15 Be satisfied with what belongs to you. Enjoy water from your own well and fresh water from your own spring. Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Why would you let your springs spill out into the streets for anyone to enjoy? Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17 Keep those blessings for yourself alone; they are not meant to be shared with strangers. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18 Let your own marriage be a source of blessing, and take delight in the wife you married when you were young. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 She is graceful and beautiful like a deer. Let her love be what fills you up at all times. Be completely captivated by her and her alone. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20 My son, why on earth would you chase after a woman who is not your wife? Why would you hold someone else close? And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
God Sees Everything
Study note
The chapter ends with a powerful reminder that God sees every path a person takes. A person's own sins become like ropes that tie them up and hold them prisoner. Without self-control and wisdom, a person wanders off the right path and is destroyed by their own foolishness.
21 The Lord has a clear view of everything a person does. He watches every road they walk down. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22 An evil person's own sins become the ropes that tie them up. Their wrongdoing wraps around them and holds them tight. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23 Their refusal to accept correction will be the death of them. Their mountain of foolishness will send them tumbling down. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.