Proverbs 5:20 warns a young man not to let his affections be drawn away by an adulterous woman, and not to embrace the body of someone who is not his wife. Its plain meaning is a call to loyalty in desire as well as in action. The words come from a father speaking to his son within the opening section of the book of Proverbs, where wisdom is handed down from parent to child.
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
Proverbs 5:20 (WEB)
What Proverbs 5:20 Means
The verse opens with a question: “For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress?” The Hebrew sense of being captivated is being swept up, carried off, held in a grip you did not choose. The father is not describing a sudden temptation that anyone might face. He is describing a slow pull, the kind that starts with attention and ends with a life rearranged around a bad choice.
The second question, “Why embrace the bosom of another?”, names the physical side of that pull and treats it plainly. Sexual intimacy outside marriage is not presented as a harmless private matter. The image of embrace belongs to the marriage bond described in the verses just before, where a man is told to find his satisfaction in the wife of his youth.
What the verse does not do is list every rule about relationships or promise that a faithful life will be free of struggle. It asks a pointed question and expects the son to see the answer for himself. It does not guarantee that a single moment of restraint will end all difficulty.
The Context of Proverbs 5:20
The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings traditionally linked to Solomon, though it contains material from several sources and was shaped over a long period. Chapters 1 through 9 are framed as a father’s instruction to his son, and this chapter continues that teaching. The audience is a young man who is being prepared to live well, manage his household, and fear the LORD.
The verses before Proverbs 5:20 speak of blessing and delight within marriage, urging the son to rejoice in the wife of his youth. The verses after it explain that the LORD sees all a person’s paths and that the wicked are trapped by their own sins. Read in that setting, the warning against the adulteress is part of a larger picture: faithfulness is both a joy and a safeguard, and folly leads to ruin.
Key Phrases in Proverbs 5:20
Matthew 5:28
But I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
(WEB)
Jesus takes the concern beyond outward action and speaks to the desire of the heart. Reading it alongside Proverbs 5:20 shows that faithfulness begins in the inner life, where attention and longing are first shaped.
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.
(WEB)
This verse honors marriage as something to be held in high regard and keeps the bed undefiled. It reinforces the same conviction found in Proverbs, that marital faithfulness is a matter of dignity and protection for the whole community.
A Short Prayer From Proverbs 5:20
Lord, you see every path I walk and you know the places where my heart drifts. Give me wisdom to notice when my attention is being pulled away from what is good and faithful. Strengthen my commitments to the people you have placed in my life, and help me to rejoice in what you have given me. Where I have already leaned toward what is harmful, lead me back to you with honesty and humility. Keep my heart steady and my steps clean. Amen.