Proverbs 5:15 is a call to find satisfaction and delight within your own marriage rather than looking for it outside. The verse uses the image of water from your own cistern and well to describe the joy and intimacy a husband and wife share with each other. It is spoken by a father to his son, as part of a series of warnings against adultery and sexual immorality.
Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
Proverbs 5:15 (WEB)
What Proverbs 5:15 Means
The verse is built on a simple comparison. A cistern is a storage pit that collects rainwater, and a well reaches down to a source of fresh groundwater. In a dry land, a family’s own cistern or well was precious, guarded and relied upon. The writer tells the son to drink from his own supply, which points to the intimacy of marriage as something meant to be private, personal and enjoyed within a single relationship.
The phrase “running water” stresses freshness and abundance. Stagnant water sits and spoils, while running water moves and stays clean. The image suggests that the love found in one’s own marriage is vibrant and life-giving, and that there is no need to seek refreshment in places that will only bring trouble.
Proverbs 5:15 does not promise that every marriage will feel fresh every day, or that faithfulness removes all difficulty. It is a wisdom saying, which means it describes how life tends to go when we honor God’s design. It points toward contentment and joy in a committed relationship as the wise path, not as a guarantee that temptation will never come.
The Context of Proverbs 5:15
The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings traditionally attributed to Solomon, with other contributors named in its later chapters. It is written as a parent’s instruction to a young person, preparing them to live well in a complex world. Chapters 5 through 7 form a sustained warning against the seductive woman, a picture of folly that leads to ruin, and the speaker urges the son to pay attention to wisdom and self-control.
Just before the verse, the speaker imagines the regret of someone who ignored correction and ended up in ruin. Just after it, the verse about streams in the public squares contrasts open, shared waters with the private blessing of one’s own spring. Verse 18 then encourages the son to rejoice in “the wife of your youth,” which shows that the whole passage is pointing toward covenant faithfulness as the place of true delight. Read this way, verse 15 is an invitation to joy rather than a mere prohibition.
Key Phrases in Proverbs 5:15
Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
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Hebrews 13:4 honors marriage as something to be held in high regard and keeps the marriage bed pure. It echoes the wisdom of Proverbs 5:15 by affirming that faithfulness within marriage is God’s good design, and that He will judge what dishonors it.
Ecclesiastes 9:9
Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.
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Ecclesiastes 9:9 encourages enjoying life with the spouse you love, which fits the joy-centered tone of Proverbs 5:15. It shows that delight in one’s own marriage is a gift to receive gladly, not a burden to endure.
A Short Prayer From Proverbs 5:15
Lord, you know the places where my heart wanders and the desires I am tempted to chase. Help me to value the gifts you have placed in my life, especially the relationship you have entrusted to me. Give me the wisdom to drink from my own well and the self-control to turn away from anything that would poison what is good. Keep my marriage, or my hopes for one, fresh and full of your life, and make my heart glad in the faithfulness you have given. Amen.