lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
Parallel translations
- KJV Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
- BSB lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
- NKJV Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one;
- NASB Otherwise you will give your vigor to others, And your years to the cruel one;
- NLT If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved.
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
Otherwise you give your honor and your years to the cruel. Sexual sin squanders one's dignity and life to merciless ruin.
Overview
The father warns of what is lost through immorality: one's honor (dignity, reputation, vigor) and best years handed over to cruel consequences. Sin promises gain but exacts a costly toll. This sober accounting calls the wise to weigh the true price of yielding to temptation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Neh 13:26Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin.
- Hos 4:13–14They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.
- Judg 16:19–21She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
- Gen 38:23–26Judah said, “Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this young goat, and you haven’t found her.”
- Prov 6:29–35So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 5:9 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.