Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
Parallel translations
- WEB Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
- BSB Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
- NKJV Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?
- NASB Should your springs overflow into the street, Streams of water in the public squares?
- NLT Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Should your springs be scattered abroad in the streets? Marital love and faithfulness are not to be squandered outside the marriage.
Overview
The imagery of springs overflowing in public squares warns against dissipating one's love and sexuality outside the marriage bond. What is meant to be cherished within marriage is wasted and defiled when spread abroad. The verse reinforces the call to faithful, exclusive love (v. 17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 128:3Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
- Ps 127:3Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
- Ps 68:26Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel.
- Deut 33:28Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
- Gen 24:60And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
- Judg 12:9And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.
- Isa 48:21And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 5:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.