Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Let thy fountain be blessed - ברוך מקורך יהי yehi mekorecha baruch . Sit vena tua benedicta. Thy vein; that which carries off streams from the fountain of animal life, in order to disperse them abroad, and through the streets. How delicate and correct is the allusion here! But anatomical allusions must not be pressed into detail in a commentary on Scripture.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Let thy fountain be blessed,.... Thy wife; make her happy by keeping to her and from others; by behaving in a loving, affable, and respectful manner to her; by living comfortably with her, and providing well for her and her children: or reckon her a happiness, a blessing that God has bestowed; or

"thy fountain shall be blessed,'

as the Targum; that is, with a numerous offspring, which was always reckoned a blessedness, and was generally the happiness of virtuous women, when harlots were barren;

and rejoice with the wife of thy youth; taken to be a wife in youth, and lived with ever since; do not despise her, nor divorce her, even in old age, but delight in her company now as ever; carry it not morosely and churlishly to her, but express a joy and pleasure in her; see Ecclesiastes 9:9. Jarchi interprets this of the law learned in youth; but it might be much better interpreted of the pure apostolic church of Christ, "the beulah", to whom her sons are married, Isaiah 62:4; to whom they should cleave with delight and pleasure, and not follow the antichristian harlot.

Geneva Study Bible

(k) Your children who will come from you in great abundance showing that God blesses marriage and curses whoredom.

(l) Who you married in your youth.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

wife … youth — married in youth.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

Fountain — Thy wife.

Blessed — With children; for barrenness was esteemed a curse among the Israelites.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Proverbs 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

Ver. 18. Let thy fountain be blessed.] Or, Thy fountain shall be blessed, thy wife shall be fruitful, as Psalms 128:3, that psalm for Solomon, whose many wives brought him but few children. We read but of one son that he had, who was none of the wisest neither, and two daughters, both of them subjects. Our Henry VIII, though blameworthy for women too, was more happy in King Edward his son, that orbis deliciae, and his two daughters, both sovereigns of an imperial crown.

Rejoice with the wife of thy youth.] As Isaac did, who was the most loving husband that we read of in Holy Writ. Ezekiel’s wife was "the delight of his eyes"; he took singular complacency in her company. This conjugal joy is the fruit of love, which therefore he commendeth to all married men, in the next words.

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Proverbs 5:18. Let thy fountain be blessed— That your wife may be fruitful, and God may bless you with a numerous posterity. The next clause very clearly points out the meaning of the metaphor.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Thy fountain; thy wife, as the next clause explains it.

Be blessed; she shall be blessed with children; for barrenness was esteemed a curse and reproach, especially among the Israelites. Or rather, she shall be a blessing and a comfort to thee, as it follows, and not a curse and a snare, as a harlot will be.

Rejoice with the wife; seek not to harlots for that delight which God alloweth thee to take with thy wife. So here he explains the foregoing metaphor, and applies it to his present design.

Of thy youth; which thou didst marry in her and thine own youthful days, with whom therefore in all reason and justice thou art still to satisfy thyself, even when she is old. Or he mentions youth, because that is the season in which men are most prone to unclean practices, against which men are commonly fortified by the infirmities of old age.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

18.Let thy fountain be blessed — That is, with offspring, so much desired in the East, as they ought to be everywhere.

Wife of thy youth — This seems to imply and sanction early marriages, though the words may be no more than a Hebraism for thy young wife. (Comp. Proverbs 2:16.) Let thy young wife, to whom thou art fitly mated, bring thee joy by a vigorous and numerous progeny. This would not be the case if he spent his strength in unlawful gratifications with harlots. For “wife of thy youth,” compare Deuteronomy 24:5; Ecclesiastes 9:1.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

Proverbs 5:18. Let thy fountain be blessed — Thy wife, as the next clause explains it, shall be blessed with children; or rather, she shall be a blessing and a comfort to thee, as it follows, and not a curse and snare, as a harlot would be. And rejoice, &c. — Seek not to harlots for that comfort and delight which God allows thee to take in thy wife. So here he explains the foregoing metaphor, and applies it to its present design; with the wife of thy youth — Whom thou didst marry in thy youthful days, with whom, therefore, in all reason and justice, thou oughtest still to satisfy thyself, even when she is old.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Vein. Thou shalt have a numerous progeny, Psalm lxvii. 28., and Isaias xlviii. 1. (Calmet)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

thy fountain: i.e. thine own wife. Compare Proverbs 5:16.

rejoice with = get thy joy with. Some codices, with Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "in" instead of "with".

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. The first clause refers to Proverbs 5:16, the second to Proverbs 5:17. "Thy fountain" is the womb of thy wife (Leviticus 20:18). Be so faithful to thy wife that God shall bless thee with a numerous offspring (Psalms 128:3-4, "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, etc. Behold thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord." "Rejoice with," or "in the wife of thy youth," stands in beautiful, contrast to Proverbs 5:11, "And thou mourn at the last." Thou shalt have cause, when old and toward the end of life, to rejoice on account of thy long union with the wife whom thou didst wed in youth, the season of ardent love, and by whom thou hast a numerous offspring (contrast Proverbs 2:17, where cf. note, Malachi 2:14).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) Let thy fountain . . .—As a reward for purity of life, the blessing of a numerous offspring is invoked. (Comp. Psalms 128:3, where the wife is a “fruitful vine,” and the children numerous and flourishing like olive-branches.)

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

rejoice

Ecclesiastes 9:9; Malachi 2:14,15