“Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.”
My Notes
What Does Proverbs 5:18 Mean?
Following several verses warning against adultery, this proverb redirects desire toward where it belongs: your own marriage. "Let thy fountain be blessed" uses water imagery for sexual vitality and intimacy — your own fountain, your own spring, the relationship you already have. "Rejoice with the wife of thy youth" commands celebration of the person you committed to when you were young.
The phrase "wife of thy youth" is tender and specific. Not just "your wife" but the wife from your youth — the one you chose when both of you were beginning, before life complicated everything. The command to rejoice carries the sense of finding pleasure, delight, and satisfaction in this relationship. It's not a grudging acceptance — it's active celebration.
The fountain metaphor carries through from the preceding verses, where the teacher warned against letting your springs flow in the streets (verse 16). Keep your fountain — your intimate life — within its proper channel, and let that channel be blessed. The blessing isn't just moral approval; it's genuine flourishing.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Are you actively rejoicing in your closest relationships, or merely maintaining them?
- 2.How does finding joy in what you have protect against the temptation to seek it elsewhere?
- 3.What does it mean that God calls intimate faithfulness a 'blessing' rather than just a duty?
- 4.What would it look like to celebrate the person you committed to 'in your youth'?
Devotional
Rejoice with the wife of your youth. Not tolerate. Not manage. Not maintain. Rejoice. Find active delight in the person you chose when you were both starting out.
This command comes after several verses about the danger of adultery, and its placement is intentional. The best defense against wandering isn't willpower — it's joy. When your own fountain is blessed, when your own marriage is a source of genuine delight, the pull of other fountains diminishes. The proverb doesn't just say "don't go elsewhere." It says "find joy here."
The "wife of thy youth" phrase carries decades of shared history. She was young when you chose her. You were young. You've grown up together, grown old together, weathered things together that nobody else witnessed. The command to rejoice in her isn't about ignoring how things have changed — it's about choosing to celebrate the person who has been there through all the changes.
The fountain-blessing language also implies that sexual intimacy within marriage is itself a blessing — not merely permitted, not grudgingly tolerated, but blessed. God wants your intimate life to flourish. He wants you to find delight in the commitment you made. The blessing isn't in spite of the pleasure — the pleasure is the blessing.
What would it look like to actively rejoice in the relationships you already have, rather than looking for delight elsewhere?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Let thy fountain be blessed,.... Thy wife; make her happy by keeping to her and from others; by behaving in a loving,…
Solomon, having shown the great evil that there is in adultery and fornication, and all such lewd and filthy courses,…
The remedy against sin is to be found in the holy estate which God has ordained. "The resemblance between the two Books…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture