Proverbs 5:10 warns that a person who gives themselves to a seductive, unfaithful lifestyle will find their money, effort and hard-earned resources drained by people who do not love them. The verse is a father’s warning to his son about a dangerous relationship, and it uses economic loss as a picture of the deeper damage that follows. It belongs to the opening speeches of the book of Proverbs, where a parent teaches a young man how to live wisely.
Lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.
Proverbs 5:10 (WEB)
What Proverbs 5:10 Means
The verse begins with “lest strangers feast on your wealth.” The word “strangers” refers to outsiders, people with no covenant loyalty to you, who benefit from what you produce. The image is of a banquet at your expense: others eat well while you pay the bill. The point is not that wealth is bad, but that wealth given to the wrong people leaves you with nothing.
The second half, “your labors enrich another man’s house,” widens the picture to your whole working life. Your strength, time and skill are meant to build your own household, provide for your family and bless your community. When they go instead into someone else’s home, your labor has become a gift to people who never earned it and will not remember it. The verse does not promise that hard work will always be rewarded, but it does say that unwise attachments can waste what you have worked for.
The Context of Proverbs 5:10
The book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom sayings traditionally attributed to Solomon, and its early chapters are framed as instruction from a father to his son. Chapter 5 deals with sexual immorality, which the text presents as a trap that looks sweet at first and ends in ruin. The audience is a young man who is being urged to keep away from a seductive woman and the household she represents.
The verses just before and after this one make the warning concrete. In verse 8 the son is told to keep his distance from her door, and in verse 9 he is warned that he may give away his honor and his best years to someone cruel. Verse 11 describes the regret that comes at the end of such a path, when the body is spent and the person groans about ignoring wise instruction. Read in that setting, verse 10 is one of several images of loss, all pointing to the same lesson: a foolish path takes far more than it gives.
Key Phrases in Proverbs 5:10
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
(WEB)
This verse teaches that the heart is the source of life and must be guarded carefully. It pairs well with Proverbs 5:10 because the loss described there usually begins with a desire that has not been protected and then leads to outward ruin.
Ecclesiastes 2:24
There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
(WEB)
Ecclesiastes speaks of finding enjoyment in one’s labor as a gift from God. Read alongside Proverbs 5:10, it shows that good work is meant to nourish your own life and household, not simply to pass to others.
A Short Prayer From Proverbs 5:10
Lord, you see the work of my hands and the hours I give to each day. Help me to notice where my time, money and energy are going, and give me the wisdom to protect what you have entrusted to me. Where I have given too much to people who take without love, show me the way back to what is truly mine to steward. Guard my heart from desires that lead me away from my own household and toward ruin. Let my labor build something lasting and good for those you have placed in my care. Amen.