Proverbs 5:16
Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
BSB
ASV
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets?
KJV
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
"Let your fountains be dispersed abroad," etc. Give your son and daughter in marriage to others, and do this openly with many witnesses.
By figures, in which well, cistern, and fountain [Pr 5:15, 18] represent the wife, and rivers of waters [Pr 5:16] the children, men are exhorted to constancy and satisfaction in lawful conjugal enjoyments. In Pr 5:16, fountains (in the plural) rather denote the produce or waters of a spring, literally, "what is from a spring," and corresponds with "rivers of waters."
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 127:3Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
leads to
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
I prayed for this boy, and since the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him,
and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’
When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
Through
Psalms 128:3Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
leads to
Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters.
But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever.
Through
Genesis 24:60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
leads to
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.