Proverbs 5:9

Proverbs 5:9, in plain English

If you don't stay away, you'll lose your strength, your health, your vitality—years of your life will be spent on something that was never worth it.

Why it's here

In ancient Israel, a man's 'vigor' included his strength, his ability to work, his sexual health, his youth. The father is warning that pursuing adultery drains all of these. The woman mentioned is cruel—she takes what she can get and moves on, leaving you diminished.

Who's speaking

The father, explaining the personal cost of this choice

Where it sits in the story

This shows that the Bible doesn't separate 'spiritual' from 'physical' consequences. When you violate God's design for sexuality and faithfulness, your entire self—body, mind, spirit—suffers the fallout. Wisdom is always about whole-life flourishing.

The scholarly reading

The consequence of yielding is the loss of youth's vitality and strength to another—and potentially to one who will use that strength cruelty against you.

Language and setting

The word 'vigor' (הוֹדְךָ, hodecha) refers to splendor, honor, and physical strength—the sum of a young man's assets in both the economic and social sense. To 'concede' (תִּתֵּן, titen) this to 'others' (לְאַחֵרִים, le-acherim) means a dissipation of resources and reputation. The 'cruel' one (אַכְזָרִים, achzarim) may be the husband she deceives, the woman's family, or society's judgment. The toxicity here is not merely personal loss but communal consequence—others feed on your destroyed potential. Tremper Longman's recent work emphasizes that Proverbs consistently treats individual moral failure as having social ripple effects.

Voice

The father-teacher, now articulating the interpersonal and economic devastation.

Significance

This prefigures the New Testament's vision of how personal sin diminishes not only the individual but the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12)—sin creates wastage within the community.

7So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.

8Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,

9lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;

10lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

11At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,

Read all of Proverbs 5 — The lips of a forbidden woman drip honey — but her end is bitter as wormwood. A warning that sounds ancient but arrives fresh every generation.