Proverbs 5:19
in Proverbs 5A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
As a loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love.
KJV
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
⋯
This verse in Proverbs 5
Commentary
12 notes on this verseHe shows also, by the mention of the creature (the hind), the purity of that pleasure; and by the roe he intimates the quick responsive affection of the wife. And whereas he knows many things to excite, he secures them against these, and puts upon them the indissoluble bond of affection, setting constancy before them. And as for the rest, wisdom, figuratively speaking, like a stag, can repel and crush the snaky doctrines of the heterodox. Let her therefore, says he, be with thee, like a roe, to keep all virtue fresh.
This site's exposition
may you rejoice in the wife of your youth
on Proverbs 5:18-19
The chapter's positive command is plain: marriage set forward as the answer to the forbidden woman. The images, “A loving doe, a graceful fawn,” come from courtship language. The son is to be satisfied “always” and “captivated by her love forever,” beyond the years of youth.
This site's exposition
A loving doe, a graceful fawn
Albert Barnes notes that the doe and the fawn stood for beauty, and that Tabitha and Dorcas at Acts 9:36 both mean gazelle. Captivated by her love translates a verb for reeling as if drunk. Verse 23 uses it of the fool led astray by his folly.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
"Let her breasts satisfy you at all times," etc. He does not teach that one should always be occupied with conjugal work, but advises not to marry another while the first wife is alive, or ever associate with a prostitute. Otherwise, what he says, "Drink …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe,.... That is, the wife of youth; let her always appear to thee as amiable and lovely as these creatures are; or let her be loved by thee as these are by princes and great men (w), who used to keep them tame, keep them clean, wash, comb them, and adorn them, and play with them; or rather, as these creatures are loving to their mates, let thy love be single, chaste, pure, and fervent, as theirs; see Son 2:
If thou wilt suffer thy love to run into an excess, and wilt be dotingly fond of any body, let it be only of thy own wife, where there is least danger of exceeding." This is drinking waters, to quench the thirst of thy appetite, out of thy own cistern, and running waters, which are clear, and sweet, and wholesome, out of thy own well,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Satisfy thee - At all convenient times: for that there may be excess in the marriage-bed is manifest. Ravished - Love her fervently. It is an hyperbolical expression.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Better, “A loving hind (is she) and pleasant roe.” As in the whole circle of Arab and Persian poetry the antelope and the gazelle are the chosen images of beauty, so they served with equal fitness for the masculine and feminine types of it. (Compare the names Tabitha and Dorcas Act 9:36.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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."
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
loving . . . roe--other figures for a wife from the well-known beauty of these animals. breasts--(Compare So 1:13; Eze 23:3, 8). ravished--literally, "intoxicated," that is, fully satisfied.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The loving hind and pleasant roe - By אילת aiyeleth, the deer; by יעלה yaalah, the ibex or mountain goat, may be meant. Let her breasts satisfy thee - As the infant is satisfied with the breasts of its mother; so shouldst thou be with the wife of thy youth.
Modern Voices1 voice
The same principle (by the way) applies to the difficult problem of wives. Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַיֶּ֥לֶת | ʾaiyelet | a doe of | H355 → | |
| אֲהָבִ֗ים | ʾahavim | loves | H158 → | |
| וְֽיַעֲלַ֫ת־ | veyaalat- | and a goat of | H3280 → | |
| חֵ֥ן | chen | grace | H2580 → | 69 times |
| דַּ֭דֶּיהָ | dadeiha | breasts her | H1717 → | |
| יְרַוֻּ֣ךָ | yeravukha | may they satisfy you | H7301 → | 14 times |
| בְכָל־ | vekhol- | at every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֵ֑ת | ʾet | time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| בְּ֝אַהֲבָתָ֗הּ | beahavatah | by love her | H160 → | 38 times |
| תִּשְׁגֶּ֥ה | tishgeh | may you be intoxicated | H7686 → | 21 times |
| תָמִֽיד׃ | tamid | continually | H8548 → | 104 times |
אַיֶּ֥לֶתa doe of
ʾaiyeletH355 →
אֲהָבִ֗יםloves
ʾahavimH158 →
וְֽיַעֲלַ֫ת־and a goat of
veyaalat-H3280 →
חֵ֥ןgrace
chenH2580 →69 times
דַּ֭דֶּיהָbreasts her
dadeihaH1717 →
יְרַוֻּ֣ךָmay they satisfy you
yeravukhaH7301 →14 times
בְכָל־at every
vekhol-H3605 →5413 times
עֵ֑תtime
ʾetH6256 →296 times
בְּ֝אַהֲבָתָ֗הּby love her
beahavatahH160 →38 times
תִּשְׁגֶּ֥הmay you be intoxicated
tishgehH7686 →21 times
תָמִֽיד׃continually
tamidH8548 →104 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 5:15Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 7:2–5
But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
- Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Proverbs 5:18–19
May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
- 1 Corinthians 7:2–5
Through
Song of Solomon 2:9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.
it leads to
- Song of Solomon 2:17
Before the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Song of Solomon 8:14
Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.
- Song of Solomon 2:17
Through
Song of Solomon 7:3Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.
it leads to
- Song of Solomon 4:5
Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
- Song of Solomon 4:5
Through
Song of Solomon 4:5Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
it leads to
- Song of Solomon 2:16
My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.
- Song of Solomon 6:3
I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me; he pastures his flock among the lilies.
- Song of Solomon 2:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; GK Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions, The Glory of Grey; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.