lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
Parallel translations
- WEB lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
- KJV Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the 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 13:26Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
- Hos 4:13–14They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
- Judg 16:19–21And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him.
- Gen 38:23–26“Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.”
- Prov 6:29–35So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go 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.