Proverbs 5:15

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 which they have a natural desire of, for he has graciously provided for the regular gratification of them. "Thou mayest not indeed eat of every tree of the garden, but choose thee out one, which thou pleasest, and of that thou mayest freely eat; nature will be content with that, but lust with nothing." God, in thus confining men to one, has been so far from putting any hardship upon them that he has really consulted their true interest; for, as Mr. Herbert observes, "If God had laid all common, certainly man would have been the encloser." - Church-porch. Solomon here enlarges much upon this, not only prescribing it as an antidote, but urging it as an argument against fornication, that the allowed pleasures of marriage (however wicked wits may ridicule them, who are factors for the unclean spirit) far transcend all the false forbidden pleasures of whoredom.

1. Let young men marry, marry and not burn. Have a cistern, a well of thy own (Pro 5:15), even the wife of thy youth, Pro 5:18. Wholly abstain, or wed. - Herbert. "The world is wide, and there are varieties of accomplishments, among which thou mayest please thyself."

2. Let him that is married take delight in his wife, and let him be very fond of her, not only because she is the wife that he himself has chosen and he ought to be pleased with his own choice, but because she is the wife that God in his providence appointed for him and he ought much more to be pleased with the divine appointment, pleased with her because she is his own. Let thy fountain be blessed (Pro 5:18); think thyself very happy in her, look upon her as a blessed wife, let her have thy blessing, pray daily for her, and then rejoice with her. Those comforts we are likely to have joy of that are sanctified to us by prayer and the blessing of God. It is not only allowed us, but commanded us, to be pleasant with our relations; and it particularly becomes yoke-fellows to rejoice together and in each other. Mutual delight is the bond of mutual fidelity. It is not only taken for granted that the bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isa 62:5), but given for law. Ecc 9:9, Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life. Those take not their comforts where God has appointed who are jovial and merry with their companions abroad, but sour and morose with their families at home.

3. Let him be fond of his wife and love her dearly (Pro 5:19): Let her be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe, such as great men sometimes kept tame in their houses and played with. Desire no better diversion from severe study and business than the innocent and pleasant conversation of thy own wife; let her lie in thy bosom, as the poor man's ewe-lamb did in his (Sa2 12:3), and do thou repose thy head in hers, and let that satisfy thee at all times; and seek not for pleasure in any other. "Err thou always in her love. If thou wilt suffer thy love to run into an excess, and wilt be dotingly fond of any body, let it be only of thy own wife, where there is least danger of exceeding." This is drinking waters, to quench the thirst of thy appetite, out of thy own cistern, and running waters, which are clear, and sweet, and wholesome, out of thy own well, Pro 5:15. Co1 7:2, Co1 7:3.

4. Let him take delight in his children and look upon them with pleasure (Pro 5:16, Pro 5:17): "Look upon them as streams from thy own pure fountains" (the Jews are said to come forth out of the waters of Judah, Isa 48:1), "so that they are parts of thyself, as the streams are of the fountain. Keep to thy own wife, and thou shalt have," (1.) "A numerous offspring, like rivers of water, which run in abundance, and they shall be dispersed abroad, matched into other families, whereas those that commit whoredom shall not increase," Hos 4:10. (2.) "A peculiar offspring, which shall be only thy own, whereas the children of whoredom, that are fathered upon thee, are, probably, not so, but, for aught thou knowest, are the offspring of strangers, and yet thou must keep them." (3.) "A creditable offspring, which are an honour to thee, and which thou mayest send abroad, and appear with, in the streets, whereas a spurious brood is thy disgrace, and that which thou art ashamed to own." In this matter, virtue has all the pleasure and honour in it; justly therefore it is called wisdom.

5. Let him then scorn the offer of forbidden pleasures when he is always ravished with the love of a faithful virtuous wife; let him consider what an absurdity it will be for him to be ravished with a strange woman (Pro 5:20), to be in love with a filthy harlot, and embrace the bosom of a stranger, which, if he had any sense of honour or virtue, he would loathe the thoughts of. "Why wilt thou be so sottish, such an enemy to thyself, as to prefer puddle-water, and that poisoned too and stolen, before pure living waters out of thy own well?" Note, If the dictates of reason may be heard, the laws of virtue will be obeyed.

II. "See the eye of God always upon thee and let his fear rule in thy heart," Pro 5:21. Those that live in this sin promise themselves secresy (the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Job 24:15); but to what purpose, when it cannot be hidden from God? For, 1. He sees it. The ways of man, all his motions, all his actions, are before the eyes of the Lord, all the workings of the heart and all the outgoings of the life, that which is done ever so secretly and disguised ever so artfully. God sees it in a true light, and knows it with all its causes, circumstances, and consequences. He does not cast an eye upon men's ways now and then, but they are always actually in his view and under his inspection; and darest thou sin against God in his sight, and do that wickedness under his eye which thou durst not do in the presence of a man like thyself? 2. He will call the sinner to an account for it; for he not only sees, but ponders all his goings, judges concerning them, as one that will shortly judge the sinner for them. Every action is weighed, and shall be brought into judgment (Ecc 12:14), which is a good reason why we should ponder the path of our feet (Pro 4:26), and so judge ourselves that we may not be judged.

III. "Foresee the certain ruin of those that go on still in their trespasses." Those that live in this sin promise themselves impunity, but they deceive themselves; their sin will find them out, Pro 5:22, Pro 5:23. The apostle gives the sense of these verses in a few words. Heb 13:4, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. 1. It is a sin which men with great difficulty shake off the power of. When the sinner is old and weak his lusts are strong and active, in calling to remembrance the days of his youth, Eze 23:19. Thus his own iniquities having seized the wicked himself by his own consent, and he having voluntarily surrendered himself a captive to them, he is held in the cords of his own sins, and such full possession they have gained of him that he cannot extricate himself, but in the greatness of his folly (and what greater folly could there be than to yield himself a servant to such cruel task-masters?) he shall go astray, and wander endlessly. Uncleanness is a sin from which, when once men have plunged themselves into it, they very hardly and very rarely recover themselves. 2. It is a sin which, if it be not forsaken, men cannot possibly escape the punishment of; it will unavoidably be their ruin. As their own iniquities do arrest them in the reproaches of conscience and present rebukes (Jer 7:19), so their own iniquities shall arrest them and bind them over to the judgments of God. There needs no prison, no chains; they shall be holden in the cords of their own sins, as the fallen angels, being incurably wicked, are thereby reserved in chains of darkness. The sinner, who, having been often reproved, hardens his neck, shall die at length without instruction. Having had general warnings sufficient given him already, he shall have no particular warnings, but he shall die without seeing his danger beforehand, shall die because he would not receive instruction, but in the greatness of his folly would go astray; and so shall his doom be, he shall never find the way home again. Those that are so foolish as to choose the way of sin are justly left of God to themselves to go in it till they come to that destruction which it leads to, which is a good reason why we should guard with watchfulness and resolution against the allurements of the sensual appetite.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

By figures, in which well, cistern, and fountain [Pro 5:15, Pro 5:18] represent the wife, and rivers of waters [Pro 5:16] the children, men are exhorted to constancy and satisfaction in lawful conjugal enjoyments. In Pro 5:16, fountains (in the plural) rather denote the produce or waters of a spring, literally, "what is from a spring," and corresponds with "rivers of waters."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Pro 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

Ver. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern.] After other preservatives from fornication, as not to think of or speak with the harlot, not to come near the doors of her house, &c., but to consider the many mischiefs that follow upon it - a diseased body, a damned soul, a poor purse, &c. - here the wise man prescribeth wedlock as a remedy properly ordained by God for that end. {1Co 7:2; 1Co 7:9} And because not the having of a wife, but the loving of her keeps a man honest; therefore it follows, {Pro 5:19} "Let her be as the loving hind," &c.

And running waters.] Heathen writers also set forth a wife by waters: as Hesiod {a} bids men not to pass over a running water without prayers to the gods - that is, not to render unto their wives due benevolence till they have sought God, as Johannes Grammaticus interprets it. A pious precept: marriage, as well as food, must be sanctified by the word and prayer, and God be called in to bless this physic to the soul. Lust makes the heart hot and thirsty: God therefore sends men to this well, to this cistern. Compare Isa 65:1. The Hebrews call a woman נקבה, i.e., perforata {Gen 1:27}

{a} Hesiod. in Ergis.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro_5:15

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

Spiritual resources

I. Man has independent spiritual resources.

1. He has independent sources of thought. Every sane man can and does think for himself.

2. He has independent sources of experience. No two have exactly the same experience.

3. He has independent powers of usefulness. Every man has a power to do some thing which no other can.

II. Man Is Bound To Use These Resources. Drink waters out of thine own cistern. Do not live on others self-drawing.

1. Honours our own nature.

2. Increases our own resources.

3. Contributes to the good of the universe. The man who gives only what he has borrowed from others adds nothing to the common stock. The subject--

(1) Indicates the kind of service which one man can spiritually render another.

(2) Suggests an effective method to sap the foundation of all arrogant assumptions. Let every man become self-helpful, and the influence of those who arrogate a lordship over the faith of others will soon die out.

(3) Presents a motive for thankfully adoring the great Creator for the spiritual constitution He has given us. We have resources, not of course independent of Him, the primal fount of all power, but independent of all creatures. (Homilist.)

Family joys

A painter lays down a dark ground to lean his picture on, and thereby bring its beauty out. Such is the method adopted in this portion of the Word. The pure delights of the family are about to be represented in the sweetest colours that nature yields--wedded love mirrored in running waters; surely we have apples of gold in pictures of silver here. And in all the earlier part of the chapter the Spirit has stained the canvas deep with Satans dark antithesis to the holy appointment of God. The Lord condescends to bring His own institute forward in rivalry with the deceitful pleasures of sin. How beautiful and how true the imagery in which our lesson is unfolded! Pleasures such as God gives to His creatures, and such as His creatures, with advantage to all their interests can enjoy--pleasures that are consistent with holiness and heaven, are compared to a stream of pure running water. And specifically the joys of the family are running waters out of thine own well. This well is not exposed to every passenger. It springs within, and has a fence around it. We should make much of the family and all that belongs to it. All its accessories are the Fathers gift, and He expects us to observe and value them. But because the stream is so pure, a small bulk of foreign matter will sensibly tinge it. The unguarded word, neglected thoughtfulnesses, or slovenly and careless ways. But careful abstinence from evil is only one, and that the lower, side of the case. There must be spontaneous outgoing activity in this matter, like the springing of flowers, and the leaping of a stream from the fountain. All the allusions to this relation in Scripture imply an ardent, joyful love. Husband and wife, if they are skilful to take advantage of their privileges, may, by sharing, somewhat diminish their cares, and fully double their joys. But we must take care lest the enjoyments of home become a snare. God is not pleased with indolence or selfishness. If the family is well ordered, ourselves will get the chief benefit, but we should let others share it. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 5:15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern — “The allegory here begun is carried on through several verses. It has been differently understood; but the interpretation which seems most generally followed, is that of those who conceive that the wise man here subjoins a commendation of matrimony, and the chaste preservation of the marriage- bed, for the propagation of a legitimate offspring, to his dehortation from illegitimate embraces, and stolen waters; and Schultens observes, that no figure is more elegant or more common among the easterns than this.” — Dodd. Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase on the verse is, “Marry; and in a wife of thy own, enjoy the pleasures thou desirest, and be content with them alone; innocent, chaste, and pure pleasures; as much different from the other, as the clear waters of a wholesome fountain are from those of a dirty lake or puddle.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

EXHORTATION TO CHASTENESS AND PROPER CONJUGAL DUTIES, Pro_5:15-23.

15-17. Drink waters — Waters often stand for posterity. Num_24:7. Fountains, wells, and cisterns, in the East were regarded as of great importance. Hence they were largely used metaphorically for that which is noble, desirable, and even sacred. Compare Psa_68:26; Isa_43:1; Son_4:12; Gen_26:15-20; Jer_18:14. These verses, under an allegory, contain an exhortation to restrain the sexual appetite within the boundaries of thine own married life. The figure is eminently Oriental and vivid, but chaste; and the subject is treated with the utmost delicacy of language and purity of thought. By the fountains of Pro_5:16 is commonly understood lawful issue, of which a man need not be ashamed, but, on the contrary, lead them forth into the streets as his joy and pride. But some versions have a negative before the word fountains. Let NOT thy fountains, etc. Fountains then would mean our sexual gratifications, and they are forbidden here to rove. The sense would then harmonize well with the next verse, where the same thought is, after the Hebrew manner, presented under a fuller form. Zockler translates interrogatively: “Shall thy streams flow abroad as water in the streets?” So, also, Conant. There is no sign of the interrogative, but this is sometimes omitted, as in Psa_56:7.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The commendation of true conjugal love in the form of an invitation to a participation in it, is now presented along with the warning against non-conjugal intercourse, heightened by a reference to its evil consequences.

15 Drink water from thine own cistern,

And flowing streams from thine own fountain.

16 Shall thy streams flow abroad,

The water-brooks in the streets!

17 Let them belong to thyself alone,

And not to strangers with thee.

One drinks water to quench his thirst; here drinking is a figure of the satisfaction of conjugal love, of which Paul says, Co1 7:9, κρεῖσσόν ἐστι γαμῆσαι ἢ πυροῦσθαι, and this comes into view here, in conformity with the prevailing character of the O.T., only as a created inborn natural impulse, without reference to the poisoning of it by sin, which also within the sphere of married life makes government, moderation, and restraint a duty. Warning against this degeneracy of the natural impulse to the πάθος ἐπιθυμίας authorized within divinely prescribed limits, the apostle calls the wife of any one τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος (cf. Pe1 3:7). So here the wife, who is his by covenant (Pro 2:17), is called "cistern" (בור)

(Note: The lxx translate ἀπὸ σῶν ἀγγείων, i.e., מכּוריך (vid., Lagarde).)

and "fountain" (בּאר) of the husband to whom she is married. The figure corresponds to the sexual nature of the wife, the expression for which is נקבה; but Isa 51:1 holds to the natural side of the figure, for according to it the wife is a pit, and the children are brought out of it into the light of day. Aben-Ezra on Lev 11:36 rightly distinguishes between בור and באר: the former catches the rain, the latter wells out from within. In the former, as Rashi in Erubin ii. 4 remarks, there are מים מכונסים, in the latter חיים מים. The post-biblical Hebrew observes this distinction less closely (vid., Kimchi's Book of Roots), but the biblical throughout; so far the Kerı̂, Jer 6:7, rightly changes בור into the form בּיר, corresponding to the Arab. byar. Therefore בור is the cistern, for the making of which חצב, Jer 2:13, and באר the well, for the formation of which חפר, Gen 21:30, and כרה, Gen 26:25, are the respective words usually employed (vid., Malbim, Sifra 117b). The poet shows that he also is aware of this distinction, for he calls the water which one drinks from the בור by the name מים, but on the other hand that out of the באר by the name נוזלים, running waters, fluenta; by this we are at once reminded of Sol 4:15, cf. 12. The בור offers only stagnant water (according to the Sohar, the בור has no water of its own, but only that which is received into it), although coming down into it from above; but the באר has living water, which wells up out of its interior (מתּוך, 15b, intentionally for the mere מן), and is fresh as the streams from Lebanon (נזל, properly labi, to run down, cf. אזל, placide ire, and generally ire; Arab. zâl, loco cedere, desinere; Arab. zll, IV, to cause to glide back, deglutire, of the gourmand). What a valuable possession a well of water is for nomads the history of the patriarchs makes evident, and a cistern is one of the most valuable possessions belonging to every well-furnished house. The figure of the cistern is here surpassed by that of the fountain, but both refer to the seeking and finding satisfaction (cf. the opposite passage, Pro 23:27) with the wife, and that, as the expressive possessive suffixes denote, with his legitimate wife.

Pro 5:16

Here we meet with two other synonyms standing in a similar relation of progression. As עין denotes the fountain as to its point of outflow, so מעין (n. loci) means water flowing above on the surface, which in its course increases and divides itself into several courses; such a brook is called, with reference to the water dividing itself from the point of outflow, or to the way in which it divides, פּלג (from פּלג, Job 38:25), Arab. falaj (as also the Ethiop.) or falj, which is explained by nahar ṣaghayr (Fl.).

(Note: The latter idea (vid., under Psa 1:3) lies nearer, after Job 38:25 : the brook as dividing channels for itself, or as divided into such; falj (falaj) signifies, according to the representation Isa 58:8, also like fajr, the morning-light (as breaking forth from a cleft).)

We cannot in this double figure think of any reference to the generative power in the sperma; similar figures are the waters of Judah, Isa 48:1, and the waters of Israel flowing forth as if from a bucket, Num 24:7, where זרעו is the parallel word to מים, cf. also the proper name מואב (from מו = מוי from מוה, diffluere), aqua h.e. semen patris, and שׁגל, Deu 28:30, = Arab. sajal (whence sajl = דּלי, situla), which is set aside by the Kerı̂. Many interpreters have by חוּצה and בּרחבות been here led into the error of pressing into the text the exhortation not to waste the creative power in sinful lust. The lxx translates יפצוּ by ὑπερεκχείσθω; but Origen, and also Clemens Alexandrinus, used the phrase μὴ ὑπερεκχείσθω, which is found in the Complut., Ald., and several codd., and is regarded by Lagarde, as also Cappellus, as original: the three Gttingen theologians (Ewald, Bertheau, and Elster) accordingly make the emendation אל־יפצוּ. But that μή of the lxx was not added till a later period; the original expression, which the Syro-Hexapl. authorizes, was ὑπερεκχείσθω without μή, as also in the version of Aquila, διασκορπιζέσθωσαν without μή (vid., Field). The Hebrew text also does not need אל. Clericus, and recently Hitzig, Zckler, Kamphausen, avoid this remedy, for they understand this verse interrogatively - an expedient which is for the most part and also here unavailing; for why should not the author have written אם יפצו? Schultens rightly remarks: nec negationi nec interrogationi ullus hic locus, for (with Fleischer and von Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 2, 402) he regards Pro 5:16 as a conclusion: tunc exundabunt; so that he strengthens the summons of Pro 5:15 by the promise of numerous descendants from unviolated marriage. But to be so understood, the author ought to have written ויפצו. So, according to the text, יפצו as jussive continues the imper. שׁתה (15a), and the full meaning according to the connection is this: that within the marriage relation the generative power shall act freely and unrestrained. חוּץ and רחבות denote (Pro 1:20) the space free from houses, and the ways and places which lead towards and stretch between them; חוּץ (from חוּץ, Arab. khass, to split, seorsim ponere) is a very relative conception, according as one thinks of that which is without as the contrast of the house, the city, or the country. Here חוץ is the contrast of the person, and thus that which is anywhere without it, whereto the exercise of its manly power shall extend. The two figurative expressions are the description of the libero flumine, and the contrast, that restriction of self which the marriage relation, according to Co1 7:3-5, condemns.

Pro 5:17

That such matters as there are thought of, is manifest from this verse. As זרע comprehends with the cause (sperma) the effect (posterity), so, in Pro 5:16, with the effusio roboris virilis is connected the idea of the beginnings of life. For the subjects of Pro 5:17 are the effusiones seminis named in Pro 5:16. These in their effects (Pro 5:17) may belong to thee alone, viz., to thee alone (לבדּך, properly in thy separateness) within thy married relation, not, as thou hast fellowship with other women, to different family circles, Aben-Ezra rightly regards as the subject, for he glosses thus: הפלגים שׁהם הבנים הבשׁרים, and Immanuel well explains יהיוּ־לך by יתיחסו לך. The child born out of wedlock belongs not to the father alone, he knows not to whom it belongs; its father must for the sake of his honour deny it before the world. Thus, as Grotius remarks: ibi sere ubi prolem metas. In ואין the יהיו is continued. It is not thus used adverbially for לא, as in the old classic Arabic lyas for l' (Fl.), but it carries in it the force of a verb, so that יהיו, according to rule, in the sense of ולא היו = ולא יהיו, continues it.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

5:15-18 To drink from one’s own well (see also Song 4:12, 15) is to enjoy sexual relations within marriage. Rather than expend sexual energy on immoral women, a man should cultivate a healthy sexual relationship with his wife. Sex is not to be shared with strangers. This honors marriage (Gen 2:22-25) and keeps the seventh commandment (Exod 20:14 and Deut 5:18).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He teacheth us sobriety, exhorting us to live of our own labors and to be beneficial to the godly that want.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15-20) Drink waters out of thine own cistern . . .—In these verses Solomon urges his disciples to follow after purity in the married life; he pictures in vivid terms the delights which it affords as compared with the pleasures of sin.

Out of thine own cistern.—The “strange woman,” on the other hand, says, “Stolen waters are sweet” (Pro_9:17). The same figure is employed in Son_4:15, where a wife is compared to “a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” In Jer_2:13 God compares Himself to a “fountain of living waters,” and complains that Israel had deserted Him, and hewed out for themselves “broken cisterns that can hold no water.” This passage in Proverbs has in like manner often been interpreted as an exhortation to drink deeply from the living waters of the Holy Spirit given in the Word and Sacraments (Joh_7:37).—For ref. see Bishop Wordsworth.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15–19. The remedy against sin is to be found in the holy estate which God has ordained. “The resemblance between the two Books (the Song of Solomon and the Book of Proverbs) in their treatment of this subject is singularly striking.” Speaker’s Comm., ad loc.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, Kg2 18:31; so every man should have his own wife, and but one: and as drinking water quenches thirst, and allays heat; so the lawful enjoyments of the marriage bed quench the thirst of appetite, and allay the heat of lust; for which reason the apostle advises men to marry and not burn, Co1 7:9; and a man that is married should be content with his own wife, and not steal waters out of another cistern. The allusion may be to a law, which, Clemens of Alexandria (t) says, Plato had from the Hebrews; which enjoined husbandmen not to take water from others to water their lands, till they themselves had dug into the earth, called virgin earth, and found it dry and without water;

and running waters out of thine own well; the pure, chaste, and innocent pleasures of the marriage state, are as different from the embraces of an harlot, who is compared to a deep ditch and a narrow pit, Pro 23:27; as clear running waters of a well or fountain from the dirty waters of a filthy puddle; see Pro 9:17. Some interpret these words, and what follows, of persons enjoying with contentment the good things of life they have for the support of themselves and families; and of a liberal communication of them to the relief of proper objects; but not to spend their substance on harlots. Jarchi understands by the "cistern", the law of Moses: but it may be better applied to the Scriptures in general, from whence all sound doctrine flows, to the comfort and refreshment of the souls of men; and from whence all doctrine ought to be fetched, and not elsewhere.

(t) Stromat. l. 1. p. 274.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The teacher seeks to counteract the evils of mere sensual passion chiefly by setting forth the true blessedness of which it is the counterfeit. The true wife is as a fountain of refreshment, where the weary soul may quench its thirst. Even the joy which is of the senses appears, as in the Song of Solomon, purified and stainless (see Pro 5:19 marginal reference).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Well. Live comfortably on your own property, (Cajetan) with your own wife. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This metaphor contained here, and Pro 5:16-18, is to be understood either,

1. Of the free and lawful use of a man’s estate, both for his own comfort, and for the good of others. Or rather,

2. Of the honest use of matrimony, as the proper remedy against these filthy practices. This best suits with the whole context, both foregoing and following; and thus it is explained in the end of Pro 5:18. So the sense is, Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee, with the sober use of the marriage bed. Why shouldst thou ramble hither and thither, trespassing against God and men, to steal their waters, which thou mightest freely take out of thine own cistern or well. The ground of the metaphor is this, that waters were scarce and precious in those countries, and therefore men used to make cisterns and wells for their own private use. And the same metaphor of

waters, and of a pit, or well, is applied to things of this nature elsewhere, as Pro 23:27; Isa 48:1; 51:1.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 15-19. Commendation of the chaste intercourse of marriage. In this section the teacher passes from admonitory warnings against unchastity to the commendation of conjugal fidelity and pure love. The allegorical exposition of this passage, current at the period of the Revision of the Authorized Version in 1612, as referring to liberality, is not ad rem. Such an idea had no place certainly in the teacher"s mind, nor is it appropriate to the context, the scope of which is, as we have seen, to warn youth against indulgence in illicit pleasures, by pointing out the terrible consequences which follow, and to indicate, on the other hand, in what direction the satisfaction of natural wants is to be obtained, that so, the heart and conscience being kept pure, sin and evil may be avoided.

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, etc.; i.e. in the wife of your own choice, or in the legitimate sphere of marriage, seek the satisfaction of your natural impulses. The pure, innocent, and chaste nature of such pleasures is appropriately compared with the pure and wholesome waters of the cistern and the wellspring. The "drinking" carries with it the satisfying of a natural want. Agreeably with oriental and scriptural usage, "the wife" is compared with a "cistern" and "well." Thus in the Song of Solomon the "bride" is called a spring shut up, a fountain sealed". (Son_4:12) Sarah is spoken of under exactly the same figure that is used here, viz. the bor, or "cistern," in Isa_51:1. The figure was not confined to women, however, as we find Judah alluded to as "waters" in Isa_48:1, and Jacob or Israel so appearing in the prophecy of Balaam. (Num_24:7) The people are spoken of by David as they that are "of the fountain of Israel". (Psa_68:26) A similar imagery is employed in the New Testament of the wife. The apostles St. Paul and St. Peter both speak of her as "the vessel (to skeuov )". (see 1Th_4:4 and 1Pe_3:7) The forms of the original, b"or and b"er, standing respectively for "cistern" and "well," indicate a common derivation from baar, "to dig." But bor is an artificially constructed reservoir or cistern, equivalent to the Vulgate cisterna, and LXX aggeiov , while b"er is the natural spring of water, equivalent to the Vulgate putens. So Aben Ezra, who says, on Lev_2:3-6, Bor is that which catches the rain, while b"er is that from within which the water wells up." This explanation, however, does not entirely cover the terms as used here. The "waters" (Hebrew, mayim) may be the pure water conveyed into the cistern, and not simply the water which is caught in its descent born heaven. The parallel term, "running waters" (Hebrew, noz"lim), describes the flowing limpid stream fit, like the other, for drinking purposes. A similar use of the terms is made in the Son_4:15, "a well of living waters (b"er mayim khayyim) and streams (v"noz"lim) from Lebanon." It may be remarked that the allusion to the wife, under the figures employed, enhances her value. It indicates the high estimation in which she is to be held, since the "cistern" or "well" was one of the most valuable possessions and adjuncts of an Eastern house. The teaching of the passage, in its bearing on the subject of marriage, coincides with that which is subsequently put forward by St. Paul, in 1Co_7:9.

Home joys.

I THE HOME IS A DIVINE INSTITUTION OF THE FIRST IMPORTANCE FOR THE WELFARE OF MANKIND. Here and throughout the Bible the sanctity of the home is insisted on as something to be guarded inviolably. It is evident that this beautiful institution is in harmony with our nature. To live according to nature is not to indulge ill-regulated passions, to follow chance impulses, to subordinate reason and conscience to instinct and appetite. It is to live so as to secure the harmonious working of our whole nature and of the general body of mankind. Thus regarded, family life is natural; it falls in best with the requirements of the race, it ministers best to its advancement. Polygamy is always degrading. As men rise in the moral scale they cast it off. The home is the foundation of the state. Where home life is most corrupt social and political institutions are in greatest danger. The homes of England are the surest guardians of her internal order and peace. May no corrupt casuistry ever dare to lay its foul finger on these holy shrines! The worst fruits of atheism and of the confessional are seen in specious pretexts for committing that horrible sacrilege.

II IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE HOME GOD HAS MADE IT TO BE A FOUNTAIN OF PURE AND WHOLESOME JOYS. They who break through the restraints of home life in the feverish thirst for illicit delights little know what joys they are losing. The poison fruits of a pandemonium let a blight fall on the sweet, fresh beauty of what might have been a very garden of Eden. For the restraints which look to libertines so irksome are just the very conditions of the most lasting, most satisfying, most; wholesome of human joys. The strong love of husband and wife, the parents" pleasure in their children, the innumerable little interests of the home circle, and all that is typified by the "fireside," are delights unknown to men who profess to make the pursuit of pleasure their aim in life. "The first sure symptom of a mind in health Is rest of heart and pleasure felt at home.

III TO BE PRESERVED IN THEIR INTEGRITY, THE HOME JOYS MUST BE CAREFULLY GUARDED AND REVERENTLY CHERISHED. The serpent is in the garden; beware of its wiles. Temptations seek to break up the confidence and peace of the family circle. Not only must gross infidelity be shunned as a deadly sin, but all approaches to a breach of domestic sanctity must be dreaded. Levity, as well as immorality, may go far to spoil the waters of the purest fountain of delight. Mere indifference may wreck the home joys. These joys must be cherished. Courtship should not end with the wedding day. Husbands and wives should beware of neglecting mutual respect and consideration under the influence of familiarity. Why should a man be more rude to his wife than to any other woman? Surely marriage is not designed to destroy courtesy. There should be an element of reverence in wedded love. Mutual sympathy each taking interest in the occupations and cares of the other; mutual confidence the avoidance of secrets between husband and wife on the mistaken flea of sparing pain; and mutual forbearance, are requisites for the preservation of the sweetness of the fountains of home joy.

Vers. 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 family. (comp. Isa_51:1 Son_4:12)

2. As wife of ones youth. " (Cf. Deu_24:5 Ecc_9:9) One to whom the flower of youth and manhood has been devoted. The parallel description is "companion of youth". (Pro_2:17) Her image, in this case, is associated with the sunniest scenes of experience.

3. As a "lovely hind, or charming gazelle. " A favourite Oriental comparison, and embodied in the names Tabitha and Dorcas, which denote "gazelle." There are numberless uses of the figure in Arabian and Persian poets. The beautiful liquid eye, delicate head, graceful carriage of the creature, all point the simile. Nothing can surpass, as a husband"s description of a true wife, Wordsworth"s exquisite stanza beginning"She was a phantom of delight, When first she gleam"d upon my sight; A creature not too bright or good For human nature"s daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

II IMAGES OF THE HUSBAND"S BLISS.

1. It is like taking draughts from a fresh and ever-running stream. There is "continual comfort in a face, the lineaments of gospel books.

2. It is a peculiar, a private possession. Ver. 16 should be rendered interrogatively; it conveys the contrast of the profaned treasures of the unchaste woman"s love, and thus fits with ver. 17. The language of lovers finds a true zest in the word, "My own!" Life becomes brutish where this feeling does not exist.

3. Yet it attracts sympathy, admiration, and good will. Ver. 18 is the blessing wished by the speaker or by any looker on. Wedding feasts bring out these feelings; and the happiness and prosperity of married pairs are as little exposed to the tooth of envy as any earthly good.

4. It is satisfying; for what repose can be more sweet and secure than that on the bosom of the faithful spouse? It is enrapturing, without being enfeebling, unlike those false pleasures, "violent delights with violent endings, that in their triumph die" (ver. 19).

III CONCLUDING EXHORTATION (ver. 20), founded on the contrast just given.

1. The true rapture (the Hebrew word shagah, "reel" as in intoxication, repeated) should deter from the false and vicious.

2. To prefer the bosom of the adulteress to that of the true wife is a mark of the most vitiated taste, the most perverted understanding. J.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Drink - Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee in the sober use of the marriage-bed.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Desire after forbidden enjoyments naturally springs from dissatisfaction with the blessings in possession. Where contentment is not found at home — drinking out of our own cistern†1 — it will be sought for, however vainly, abroad. Conjugal love is chief among the earthly goods in mercy granted by God to his fallen and rebellious creature. Enjoy then with thankfulness thine own, and desire not thy neighbour’s well. (Exo 20:17 . 2Sa 11:2-3 .) If a happy issue is given (Psa 127:3-5 ; Psa 128:1-6 .), let it be as fountains (Compare Num 24:7 ; Deu 33:28 ; Psa 68:26 ; Isa 48:1 ) dispersed abroad, to fertilize with godly influence the way through which their course may be directed. (Compare Zec 8:5 .) Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. (Deu 24:5 . Ecc 9:9 .) Regard her as the special gift of thy Father’s hand. (Pro 19:14 .) Cherish her with gentleness and purity (Gen 24:67 ), as the loving hind and pleasant roe.†2 Whatsoever interrupts the strictest harmony in this delicate relationship, opens the door to imminent temptation. Tender, well-regulated, domestic affection is the best defense against the vagrant desires of unlawful passion. Yea — it is consecrated by the Word of God itself to the high purpose of shadowing out "the great mystery — loving and cherishing our own flesh, even as the Lord the Church." (Eph 5:25, Eph 5:29 .)

Footnotes:

†1 The beauty of the figure is illustrated from the circumstance, that the houses of the East appear each to have had their own cistern. 2Ki 18:31 .

†2 Compare 2Sa 12:3 . The hind and the roe were objects of special delight (Song of Son 2:17 ; Song of Son 3:5 ) and endearment — a picture of the lively delight, which the wife naturally engages; relaxing in her society from severer duties, and taking the liveliest pleasure in her company. As Bishop Davenant beautifully observes — ’Abroad the man may consider himself as tossing in the waves; but at home with the wife, in repose, as in a desired haven.’ — On Col 3:19 .

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chastity Contrasted with Unchastity

v. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well, seeking the satisfaction of permitted desire and intercourse only and alone within the bounds of holy wedlock.

v. 16. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets, in the proper enjoyment of marital love.

v. 17. Let them be only thine own, that is, the waters of this fountain in lawful wedlock, and not strangers’ with thee, in illegitimate intercourse.

v. 18. Let thy fountain be blessed, the children of lawful wedlock being gifts of the Lord, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Cf Deu 24:5; Ecc 9:9.

v. 19. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe, or the graceful gazelle, emblems of the graceful, fascinating, lively nature of a young wife; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, her bosom charming her husband, and be thou ravished always with her love, said of the ecstatic joy of the loving husband which meets with the glad approval of God within holy wedlock.

v. 20. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, with a wanton harlot, professing the same delight in her company which he might and should lawfully have with the wife given him by the Lord, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? of one in whose case such familiarity is excluded by the prohibition of the Sixth Commandment.

v. 21. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all his goings, His omniscience marking the conduct of every person and noting every unchaste desire, thought, word, and act.

v. 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, overtake every evil-doer, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins, as fetters holding him captive and keeping him securely for the final punishment.

v. 23. He shall die without instruction, for want of correction, because he would not accept it, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray, thus bringing destruction upon himself. Such is the way of the libertine, a few years of forbidden voluptuousness followed by everlasting condemnation.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

water from your own cistern ... running water from your own well

These two phrases mean basically the same thing. The writer speaks of a man sleeping only with his wife as if he drank water only from his own cistern or well. (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)

running water

The writer speaks of fresh or flowing water as if the water were running. AT: "fresh water" or "flowing water" (See: Metaphor)

Should your springs ... your streams of water flow in the public squares?

The writer asks this rhetorical question to emphasize that his son should not do these things. AT: "Your springs should not ... your streams of water should not flow in the public squares." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Should your springs ... your streams of water flow in the public squares?

Here the words "springs" and "streams of water" are likely euphemisms for male reproductive fluids. Possible meanings for these metaphorical phrases are 1) sleeping with women other than one's wife is spoken of as if it were allowing one's water to flow in the public streets or 2) having children with women other than one's wife is spoken of as if it were allowing one's water to flow in the public streets. (See: Euphemism and Metaphor)

public squares

Open areas in a city or town where two or more streets meet. A common place for people to meet each other and talk.

Let them be

The word "them" refers to the "springs" and "streams of water" and what they stand for.

not for strangers with you

"do not share them with strangers"

translationWords

cistern

fountain

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Drink water from your own cistern From the cistern that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave you for your share, viz. the Law of Moses.

your own cistern This denotes gathered water.

and running water Heb. ונזלים, spring water. In the beginning it is like gathered water, and at the end it gushes out more and more.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.