Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
For fourteen verses, Proverbs 5 warns a son away from a woman who is not his. At verse 15 the tone changes. The father stops forbidding and hands his son a picture of water that belongs to him. Why teach purity as an invitation to enjoy something? And what do the cistern and the well stand for?
In that land, nobody turned on a tap. People collected rain and stored it, so owning your own supply was a real benefit:
These were widely used in Palestine for collecting rain water. In Jerusalem every house has its cistern, and some have more than one. Solomon also brought water from long distances to be stored in cisterns... For every man to be able to drink water out of his own cistern was held out as a benefit. 2 Kings 18:31; Isa. 36:16. This is also used as a symbol of not indulging in illicit desires. Prov. 5:15.
The verse names two sources. One writer keeps them apart: the cistern holds stored water, and the well runs:
The word can be used in other ways. But in Proverbs 5:15 the well is distinct from the cistern as the place of "running," or "living," water. Such wells were the ones Isaac dug, not man-made cisterns. We find them in Genesis 26: "Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water."
The first half of the chapter exposed desire running loose. Verse 15 turns to what that desire breaks:
The verses that follow (v. 15 onwards) look at corruption in another form — the breaking of the relationship God formed. What came before has judged the will let loose in corruption. It has shown the degrading influence of that will: how it drove all good out of the heart and made selfishness the rule of life... The father insists on holding the relationship close, instead of breaking it. God has formed it as a bond and a centre of affections.
The verse does not narrow love; it anchors it. A man may show kindness to many, yet one bond holds his heart together:
Even in human affections it is a great thing to have a centre, so that the heart is united in itself there. And this affection is righteous, according to God's mind. So conscience does not fight against the heart and turn it into evil and self-will. Instead, God's authority and creative will put their sanction on it, so that we can enjoy His blessing in it... We may go out in wide kindness to people outside it — all right — but here affection has its centre; there is a bond; and duty puts its seal on it. A man lives in his family, the first circle of divine order, formed by God Himself in paradise. Drinking water from his own cistern is the concentration of affection by which it is his own.
Both belong in a life that fears God:
Two things suit a man who fears God. There is the heart that goes out to love his neighbour — or, as we Christians add, to love our enemies in the spirit of the gospel. There is also the centring of the affections within the family... Wandering affections are selfish, carry their own shame, and have a lasting sting. Jehovah set up the family as a sacred circle around the parents. In the same way, He approves and commands warm affection in the head of the home toward the wife who matches him.
Notice who gives this advice:
Then the passage narrows to the partners of life. The one who openly erred by taking so many wives and concubines is the very one God inspired to commend one single love in marriage. That is striking... To be cheerful in public and sour at home is to be thankless and unholy. "Let marriage," the Apostle urges, "be held in honor among all."
One writer applies the cistern more widely. Truth, too, must be your own and not borrowed:
How important to make the truth of God our own — and not to borrow from others what may be contaminated and harmful. "Buy truth, and do not sell it" (Proverbs 23:23). If we buy it, it becomes our own, not merely borrowed. It may cost us our own pride or our own comfort in the flesh. Our fountains must certainly be for our own benefit, to refresh our own souls in communion with the Lord (v. 16)... Only when the truth becomes our own in reality will we be fit to use it for the true benefit of others.
- Own it. A cistern held a household's own water in a dry land. The verse tells a man to drink from what is his own.
- Centred. Kindness may go out to everyone, but affection has one centre. Wandering affections are selfish, carry shame, and leave a lasting sting.
- Sanctioned. God formed the bond, so conscience and heart pull the same way in it, and we can enjoy His blessing there.
- Honoured. The call is not just to stay faithful but to hold marriage in honour. Cheerful in public and sour at home fails it.
- First-hand. Truth that is bought becomes yours. Only what has refreshed your own soul can refresh anyone else's.
Thy fountains shall be poured forth, as water-brooks in the broadways.
Proverbs 5:16 sits inside a father's appeal to his son about marriage, told in the picture of water: a private cistern to drink from, and springs that spill into the open streets. Translators have long disagreed: is this line a warning question, or an invitation to let good overflow?
The verses before this one exposed lust let loose. From verse 15 the subject changes to the relationship God Himself formed.
The father insists on keeping the relationship itself whole, in contrast with breaking it. God has formed it as a bond and centre of affections. And even in human affections it is a great thing to have a centre, so that the heart is united in itself there... We may go out in wide kindness to people outside it — that is all right — but here the affections have their centre; there is a bond; and duty puts its seal on it... He lives in his family, drinking waters out of his own cistern — the focusing of affection that makes it his own — and his fountains are spread abroad, rivers of water in the streets. That is, his children fully represent him, and through them he has his importance everywhere. He is spread abroad in them. But there is unity in the whole family. His fountain is his own; that is, the whole family circle in its source.
Two things belong together in a life that fears God.
The heart goes out to love its neighbour — or, as we Christians add, to love our enemies in the spirit of the gospel. There is also the centring of the affections within the family. This second thing is what the father presses on his son here... Wandering affections are selfish, carry their own shame, and have a permanent sting.
Readers have taken the wording in opposite directions. One commentator lays out the options without forcing a verdict.
If the old Greek version in the Vatican copy translates verse 16 rightly, it means, "Do not spill the waters out of your fountain, but let your waters go into the open streets." The Alexandrian copy agrees with the Latin version and the older English Bible in leaving out the negatives. That gives the sense that the children will reflect their parents, according to the atmosphere they all breathed. The Revised Version prefers the question form. That confirms the concentrating of affection in the verse before, and it does not add the scattering abroad that the common versions suggest. It may not be easy to decide, but the Revised Version holds together better, and it fits verse 17 more naturally.
The ESV keeps the question form. Older English Bibles read it as a statement: "Let your fountains be dispersed abroad."
Read as a question, the verse expects the answer no. The principle reaches beyond marriage.
How important to make the truth of God our own! — and not to borrow from others what may be contaminated and harmful... Our fountains must be for our own benefit, to refresh our own souls in communion with the Lord (v. 16). Only when the truth becomes in reality our own shall we be fitted to use it also for the true benefit of others. "Streams of water in the streets" is a misuse of what God entrusts to us, like casting our pearls before swine. Strangers, that is, unbelievers (v. 17), are in no condition to enjoy the precious truth of God as those redeemed by the blood of Christ are.
Taken as an invitation, the same picture fits a believer who cannot keep the supply inside.
Belonging to Him who is the God of peace, we should be faithful witnesses of Him... The servant of the Lord is now at large, among his fellow men, in the new and gracious liberty of Christ. Through the faith of Jesus he has the springing well of life in him, and he is to let that fullness flow out as a river in the streets (Prov. 5:15-17; John 7:38-39).
The two readings meet here: what a person keeps private first is what helps others most.
This faith is a home joy of the soul. It abides within, choosing the privacy of the presence it loves best (Prov. 5:15-19). Faith of this kind courts no observation, and makes no boast of privilege. It is discovered in its effects, and these effects are always according to God, and therefore for blessing to others.
These limits are not God withholding pleasure. They are protection from One who knows how a man ruins himself.
What a safeguard for man when he is an outcast through his own sin!... How gracious of Him to warn and guard weak, passionate man from his own ruinous will!
- Centre. God formed marriage as the bond and centre of the affections. There the heart finds unity, and duty seals it.
- Question. Commentators differ on the wording. Read as a question, it guards the private cistern of verse 15. Read as a statement, it sends the waters out.
- Own. Whether truth or love, it must be yours first. Handing to strangers what God trusted you with is misuse, not generosity.
- Overflow. The well inside becomes a river in the streets. Faith that keeps quiet shows itself in its effects, and those effects bless others.
- Grace. These home rules are kindness, not restriction. God fences in weak, passionate people to save them from their own will.
Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
Two verses earlier the father tells his son to drink from his own well. Verse 17 closes the circle: who are these "strangers," and why does God fence one relationship so firmly?
This is not a call to a cold or narrow heart. One writer sets the command next to the wide love that marks a man who fears God.
Two things suit the man who fears God. There is the outgoing of heart that loves his neighbour, or, as we Christians add, that loves our enemies in the spirit of the gospel. There is also the centring of the affections within the family. This last is what the father here would impress on his son. So the proper place of the wife comes before us. It is the human relationship that survives from the beginning, when sin was not; it is just as essential now that the offence abounds. Wandering affections are selfish, carry their own shame, and have a permanent sting.
The word "strange" is used all through the Old Testament with one settled sense. It helps to know that Jehovah is God's own name there.
"Strange" is a word much used and important. All gods that are not Jehovah are strange gods; fire not from the altar was strange fire. It means whatever does not belong to us, whatever is not in the divinely given relationship in which we stand. Anyone but Jehovah was a stranger; any fire but the consecrated fire was strange; anyone but the shepherd was a stranger. God made them male and female, "bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh," the closest possible relationship of belonging to the man.
Verse 16 reads differently in different manuscripts and versions — some ask a question, some make a statement, some insert a "not." Verse 17 helps decide which reading fits.
If verse 16 is rendered rightly in the Vatican Septuagint, it means, "Let not waters out of your fountain be spilt by you, but let your waters go into the broadways." The Alexandrian text agrees with the Vulgate and the Authorized English Bible in leaving out the negatives, giving the sense that the children will reflect the parents according to the atmosphere they all breathed. The R.V. prefers the form of a question, which rather confirms the concentration of the verse before it, and does not add the scattering abroad suggested by the ordinary versions. It may not be easy to decide, but the R.V. has the effect of greater unity, and falls in more naturally with verse 17.
This is not a rule pressed on a man from outside. It answers to the way the heart works, and it keeps conscience and heart from fighting each other.
God has formed it as a bond and centre of affections. Even in human affections it is a great thing to have a centre, so that the heart is united in itself there. And this is affection in righteousness according to God's mind. So conscience does not war against the heart and turn it into something evil and wilful. Instead God's authority and creative will put their sanction on it, so that we can enjoy His blessing in it. Every way, due and right affection is in the heart. We may go out in generous kindness to objects outside of it — all right — but here affections are centred; there is a bond; and duty puts its seal on it.
Commentators differ on whether the wells and streams also picture something beyond marriage. One writer takes the "strangers" here to be unbelievers. He reads the water as a lesson in how we handle God's truth.
How important to make the truth of God our own — and not to borrow from others what may be contaminated and harmful. "Buy the truth, and do not sell it" (Proverbs 23:23). If we buy it, it becomes our own, not merely borrowed. It may cost us our own pride or our own comfort. "Streams of water in the streets" is a misuse of what God entrusts to us, similar to casting our pearls before swine. For "strangers," that is, unbelievers (v. 17), are in no condition to enjoy the precious truth of God as those redeemed by the blood of Christ are.
Another writer turns the picture the other way. He sees the well inside a believer flowing out to others.
Having in him, through the faith of Jesus, the springing well of life, he is to let that fullness go out as a river in the streets (Proverbs 5:15-17; John 7:38-39).
- Own — the water is for yourself alone: one supply, given to one man and one home.
- Stranger — "strange" means anything outside the relationship God formed. It covers strange gods and strange fire as much as a strange woman.
- Centre — affection needs a single centre, so that conscience and heart are not at war and God's blessing can rest on the bond.
- Guard — do not scatter what God has fenced in. One writer applies the same rule to the truth God entrusts to a believer.
- Honour — this bond goes back to the beginning, before sin entered; it matters just as much now.