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Proverbs 5:15-19
New Catholic Bible
Proverbs 5:15-19
New Catholic Bible
Rejoice in the Wife of Your Youth[a]
15 Drink the water from your own cistern,
fresh water from your own well.[b]
16 Do not allow your springs[c] to overflow,
gushing forth water into the streets.
17 Let them be for you alone
and not be shared by strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
19 a lovely deer, a graceful fawn—
let her affection fill you with delight
and ever hold you captive.[d]
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:15 True fidelity knows how to rediscover the happiness of first love. Proverbs has a beautiful idea of marriage.
- Proverbs 5:15 Your own cistern . . . your own well: a reference to the wife. Wells and cisterns were privately owned and had great value (see 2 Ki 18:31; Jer 38:6).
- Proverbs 5:16 Springs: these also refer to the wife as does “fountain” in verse 18 (see Song 4:12, 15).
- Proverbs 5:19 The author alludes to the joys of marital love (which in Song 4:10 is described as better than wine).
