Drink water out of your own cistern, and tricklings out of the midst of your own well (Proverbs 5:15)

5 min readAug 29, 2024

Proverbs chapter 5: “My son, to my wisdom O do pay attention. To my discernment incline your ears, 2 so as to guard thinking abilities; and may your own lips safeguard knowledge itself.

3 For as a honeycomb the lips of a strange woman keep dripping, and her palate is smoother than oil. 4 But the aftereffect from her is as bitter as wormwood; it is as sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet are descending to death. Her very steps take hold on Sheʹol itself. 6 The path of life she does not contemplate. Her tracks have wandered she does not know [where]. 7 So now, O sons, listen to me and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth. 8 Keep your way far off from alongside her, and do not get near to the entrance of her house, 9 that you may not give to others your dignity, nor your years to what is cruel; 10 that strangers may not satisfy themselves with your power, nor the things you got by pain be in the house of a foreigner, 11 nor you have to groan in your future when your flesh and your organism come to an end. 12 And you will have to say: “How I have hated discipline and my heart has disrespected even reproof! 13 And I have not listened to the voice of my instructors, and to my teachers I have not inclined my ear. 14 Easily I have come to be in every sort of badness in the midst of the congregation and of the assembly.”

15 Drink water out of your own cistern, and tricklings out of the midst of your own well. 16 Should your springs be scattered out of doors, [your] streams of water in the public squares themselves? 17 Let them prove to be for you alone, and not for strangers with you. 18 Let your water source prove to be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth, 19 a lovable hind and a charming mountain goat. Let her own breasts intoxicate you at all times. With her love may you be in an ecstasy constantly. 20 So why should you, my son, be in an ecstasy with a strange woman or embrace the bosom of a foreign woman? 21 For the ways of man are in front of the eyes of Jehovah, and he is contemplating all his tracks. 22 His own errors will catch the wicked one, and in the ropes of his own sin he will be taken hold of. 23 He will be the one to die because there is no discipline, and [because] in the abundance of his foolishness he goes astray”.

Proverbs chapter 5: it is the continuation of the recommendations of chapter 4, but now, regarding the sexual morality. There is a warning against the strange woman. It is likely, that the strange woman can be at the same time, a prostitute and an adulterous woman: “My son, to my wisdom O do pay attention. To my discernment incline your ears, so as to guard thinking abilities; and may your own lips safeguard knowledge itself. For as a honeycomb the lips of a strange woman keep dripping, and her palate is smoother than oil. But the aftereffect from her is as bitter as wormwood; it is as sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet are descending to death. Her very steps take hold on Sheol itself” (proverbs 5:1–5). In a metaphorical way, this text shows that if sexual immorality can bring pleasure, in the short term, but in the end, the consequences can be particularly dramatic (until deadly consequences, “Her feet are descending to death”).

A man and a woman married can find a lot of happiness on the sexual intercourse, while remaining faithful to each other: “Drink water out of your own cistern, and tricklings out of the midst of your own well. Should your springs be scattered out of doors, your streams of water in the public squares themselves? Let them prove to be for you alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your water source prove to be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth, a lovable hind and a charming mountain goat. Let her own breasts intoxicate you at all times. With her love may you be in an ecstasy constantly. So why should you, my son, be in an ecstasy with a strange woman or embrace the bosom of a foreign woman? For the ways of man are in front of the eyes of Jehovah, and he is contemplating all his tracks” (Proverbs 5:15–21). This conjugal happiness is a creation of God, however, it is necessary to respect the limits on the biblical morality. This is a protection against temptation of fornication or adultery practice (1 Corinthians 7:1–5). In this area, God also “is contemplating all his tracks (those of man and woman)”, within the framework of intimate relations (Hebrews 13:4).

Reading the Bible (Reading and meditating on the biblical book of Proverbs):

English: https://yomelyah.com/435551334/435936045

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THE SPIRITUAL MAN (Existential meditation on the biblical book of Ecclesiastes):

English: http://www.yomelyah.com/435966902

French: http://www.yomelijah.com/435950338

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The Promise of God. The complete explanation of Genesis 3:15.

English: http://www.yomelyah.com/439659476