The general instruction of this chapter is to avoid whoredom, and make use of lawful marriage, and keep to that. It is introduced with an exhortation to attend to wisdom and understanding, Prov. 5:1, Prov.

My son, attend unto my wisdom Not the wisdom of the world or of the flesh, worldly wisdom and carnal policy; but spiritual and evangelical wisdom; such as one that is greater than Solomon has in him, even Christ; “for in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”, ; and which he teaches and…

That thou mayest regard discretion Observe it; retain it in thine heart, as Aben Ezra adds, and use it; think, speak, and act discreetly, and so avoid the bad woman afterwards described: the Vulgate Latin version is, “that thou mayest keep the thoughts”; and so Gersom interprets the word; “good…

For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb “Mulsa dicta”, “honey words”, as is Plautus’s [[4]] expression. The Septuagint and Arabic versions premise something here which is not in the Hebrew text, “do not give heed to a wicked woman;” and the Vulgate Latin version, “to the fallacy of a…

But her end is bitter as wormwood Which is opposed to the honeycomb her lips are said to drop; so that, as Juvenal says [[6]], “plus aloes quam mellis habet”: the end which she brings persons to, or the issue of complying with her, is bitterness; such as loss of credit, substance, and health,…

Her feet go down to death The ways in which she walks, and in which she leads others, issue oftentimes in corporeal death; and always in eternal death, if grace prevent not; and unless men are brought to a sense of sin, to repent of it and leave it.

Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life Consider and meditate which is the way to get out of her hands and ways, and escape death, and obtain eternal life; lest those she has drawn into her wicked course of life should be religiously inclined, and think of quitting such a course, and inquire…

Hear me now therefore, O ye children Since such is the character, this the wretched end, and these the ways of the adulterous woman; those that are young in years, and liable to be ensnared by her, should hear what Solomon, or Christ, here says, for their caution and instruction; and especially…

Remove thy way far from her The way of the mind, walk, and conversation; keep at the greatest distance from her; neither come where she is, nor look at her, nor converse with her; shun her, as one would the pest or a loathsome carcass; go a good way about rather than come near her, or be within…

Lest thou give thine honour unto others To strumpets, their children, attendants, servants, and friends; that is, either wealth or riches, which make men honourable; or their three, credit, and reputation, which are lost by keeping company with such persons; or the outward comeliness of the body,…

Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth The adulteress, her husband, children, friends, bawds, and such like persons she is concerned with; these share the wealth of the adulterer, abound with it, and live profusely on it, until he is stripped quite bare and destitute: or, “with thy strength”;…

And thou mourn at the last Or roar as a lion, as the word [[17]] signifies; see ; expressing great distress of mind, horror of conscience, and vehement lamentations; and yet not having and exercising true repentance, but declaring a worldly sorrow, which worketh death.

And say, how have I hated instruction To live virtuously, and avoid the adulterous woman; this he says, as wondering at his stupidity, folly, and madness, that he should hate and abhor that which was so much his interest to have observed.

And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers Parents, tutors, masters, and ministers of the word; neither regarded the advice of parents, nor the instructions of tutors, nor the commands of masters, nor the sermons of ministers: these are all lost on some persons; they are proof against them all;…

I was almost in all evil Scarce a sin but he was guilty of; contempt of private and public instructions, the instructions of parents and ministers of the Gospel, and following lewd women, commonly lead to the commission of all other sins, even the most atrocious.

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…

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…

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. ] Or “they shall be thine own” [[19]], 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…

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…

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 [[21]], who used to keep them tame, keep them clean, wash, comb them, and adorn…

And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, &c.] Or “err with her” [[23]]; 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…

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…

His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself As in a snare or net, as Gersom observes; in which the adulterer is so entangled that he cannot extricate himself; he may fancy that when he grows old his lusts will be weakened, and he shall be able to get clear of them, and have repentance for…

He shall die without instruction Into the evil of sin, and the danger he is in, and so without repentance for it; for instruction is the means of repentance, and productive of it when blessed, ; but it is but just that those who have hated and rejected it in health and life, that when they come to…