Pro 5:5 | KD | STEP | Here a fourth rule of life follows the three already given, , , Pro 4:26-27 : 1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, And incline thine ear to my prudence, 2 To observe discretion, And that thy lips preserve knowledge. 3 For the lips of the adulteress distil honey, And smoother than oil is her mouth; 4 But her end is bitter like wormwood, Sharper than a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps cleave to Hades. 6 She is far removed from entering the way of life, Her steps wander without her observing it. Wisdom and understanding increase with the age of those who earnestly seek after them. It is the father of the youth who here requests a willing ear to his wisdom of life, gained in the way of many years’ experience and observation. In the inf . of the object is continued in the finitum , as in , Pro 2:8. מזמּות ( vid ., on its etymon under ) are plans, projects, designs, for the most part in a bad sense, intrigues and artifices ( vid ., ), but also used of well-considered resolutions toward what is good, and hence of the purposes of God, Jer 23:20. This noble sense of the word מזמּה, with its plur., is peculiar to the introductory portion (chap. 1-9) of the Book of Proverbs. The plur. means here and at (placing itself with חכמות and תּבוּנות, vid ., p. 68) the reflection and deliberation which is the presupposition of well-considered action, and שׁמר is thus not otherwise than at , and everywhere so meant, where it has that which is obligatory as its object: the youth is summoned to careful observation and persevering exemplification of the quidquid agas, prudenter agas et respice finem . In 2b the Rebia Mugrash forbids the genitive connection of the two words דּעתו שׂפתיך; we translate: et ut scientiam labia tua tueantur . Lips which preserve knowledge are such as permit nothing to escape from them ( ) which proceeds not from the knowledge of God, and in Him of that which is good and right, and aims at the working out of this knowledge; vid ., Köhler on Mal 2:7. שׂפתיך (from שׂפה, Arab. shafat, edge, lip, properly that against which one rubs, and that which rubs itself) is fem., but the usage of the language presents the word in two genders (cf. 3a with ). Regarding the pausal ינצרוּ for יצּרוּ, vid ., under Mal 3:1; Mal 2:11. The lips which distil the honey of enticement stand opposite to the lips which distil knowledge; the object of the admonition is to furnish a protection against the honey-lips.

‏ Proverbs 5:5

Here a fourth rule of life follows the three already given, Pro 4:24, Pro 4:25, Pro 4:26-27 : 1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, And incline thine ear to my prudence, 2 To observe discretion, And that thy lips preserve knowledge. 3 For the lips of the adulteress distil honey, And smoother than oil is her mouth; 4 But her end is bitter like wormwood, Sharper than a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps cleave to Hades. 6 She is far removed from entering the way of life, Her steps wander without her observing it.

Wisdom and understanding increase with the age of those who earnestly seek after them. It is the father of the youth who here requests a willing ear to his wisdom of life, gained in the way of many years’ experience and observation. In Pro 5:2 the inf. of the object is continued in the finitum, as in Pro 2:2, Pro 2:8. מזמּות (vid., on its etymon under Pro 1:4) are plans, projects, designs, for the most part in a bad sense, intrigues and artifices (vid., Pro 24:8), but also used of well-considered resolutions toward what is good, and hence of the purposes of God, Jer 23:20. This noble sense of the word מזמּה, with its plur., is peculiar to the introductory portion (chap. 1-9) of the Book of Proverbs. The plur. means here and at Pro 8:12 (placing itself with חכמות and תּבוּנות, vid., p. 68) the reflection and deliberation which is the presupposition of well-considered action, and שׁמר is thus not otherwise than at Pro 19:8, and everywhere so meant, where it has that which is obligatory as its object: the youth is summoned to careful observation and persevering exemplification of the quidquid agas, prudenter agas et respice finem. In 2b the Rebia Mugrash forbids the genitive connection of the two words דּעתו שׂפתיך; we translate: et ut scientiam labia tua tueantur. Lips which preserve knowledge are such as permit nothing to escape from them (Psa 17:3) which proceeds not from the knowledge of God, and in Him of that which is good and right, and aims at the working out of this knowledge; vid., Köhler on Mal 2:7. שׂפתיך (from שׂפה, Arab. shafat, edge, lip, properly that against which one rubs, and that which rubs itself) is fem., but the usage of the language presents the word in two genders (cf. 3a with Pro 26:23). Regarding the pausal ינצרוּ for יצּרוּ, vid., under Mal 3:1; Mal 2:11. The lips which distil the honey of enticement stand opposite to the lips which distil knowledge; the object of the admonition is to furnish a protection against the honey-lips.