Proverbs 5:5-6

 Proverbs 5:5-6 (KJV)  5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

Proverbs 5:5-6 (NIV)  5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.

Proverbs 5:5-6 (NLT)  5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
6 For she cares nothing about the path to life.
She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it.

Proverbs 5:5-6 (CEV)  5 If you follow her, she will lead you down to the world of the dead.
6 She has missed the path that leads to life and doesn't even know it.

Proverbs 5:5-6 (BSB)  5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. 6 She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
to death - מָ֑וֶת (maveth, mā·weṯ) - Noun - masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew 4194: Death, the dead, their place, state, pestilence, ruin
Brown-Driver-Briggs English Hebrew Lexicon adds: state of death or place of death

to Sheol - שְׁ֝א֗וֹל (sheol, ’ō·wl) - Noun - common singular
Strong's Hebrew 7585: Underworld (place to which people descend at death)

consider - תְּפַלֵּ֑ס (palas, tə·p̄al·lês) - Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's Hebrew 6424: To roll flat, prepare, to revolve, weigh

the path - אֹ֣רַח (orach, ’ō·raḥ) - Noun - common singular construct
Strong's Hebrew 734: A well-trodden road, a caravan

of life - חַ֭יִּים (chay, ḥay·yîm) - Noun - masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life

her ways - מַ֝עְגְּלֹתֶ֗יהָ (magal or magalah, ma‘·gə·lō·ṯe·hā) - Noun - feminine plural construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's Hebrew 4570: An entrenchment, track
Brown-Driver-Briggs English Hebrew Lexicon adds: course of action, or life

are unstable - נָע֥וּ (nua, nā·‘ū) - Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's Hebrew 5128: To quiver, wave, waver, tremble, totter

In our last study, Proverbs 5:4-5, we see that this is a woman who is a stranger to the family or the household. She is an adulteress, a harlot, a forbidden woman, a woman who is not your wife. We also know this was written from a father to a son but applies to women as well. A woman should not be tempted by a man who is a stranger to the family or the household, an adulterer, a forbidden man, any man who is not your husband.

Sheol refers to the grave or the abode of the dead. Both Christians and non-Christians go to Sheol but it is divided. One is a place of Paradise for the righteous through Jesus Christ. The other is a place of desperate torment for the unsaved. The wicked go to this place in Sheol called Hades. There is an uncrossable chasm that separates the two places in Sheol. We wait here until the end times. For Christians, Jesus resurrects our physical bodies which are now immortal and incorruptible and our spirit joins our bodies to live with Him forever. For the unsaved, their day of resurrection also comes but it is for them to be judged and cast into the Lake of Fire forever.

"Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell". The word for hell is actually Sheol and other translations use Sheol or the place of the dead. What this is saying is that this woman's life has no other end but death. She has no future. She is wandering aimlessly through life on crooked paths, back and forth, without any care about her eternity.

This woman adapts to her surroundings and to who she is with. She is moveable, unstable. It's a game to her. Nothing, and no one, means anything to her except herself and what she wants at that moment.

Ecclesiastes 7:26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

To allure, she/he uses:
*Flattering words (Proverbs 6:24)

* Beauty (Proverbs 6:25)

* Flirtatious eye contact (Proverbs 6:25). They use body language and eye contact as a come on and a "come hither" look.

* Kisses (Proverbs 7:13)

* Pretending to be a good person (Proverbs 7:14)

* Romance (Proverbs 7:15)

* Creative lovemaking (Proverbs 7:16-18)

* Touch

* Safe rendezvous (Proverbs 7:19-20)

* Language. Whatever the environment or circumstances call for, their language adapts. They begin using foul language or suggestive words, sexual innuendos, double entendres. Sometimes, if the situation is such, they will just come out and ask for it.

* Alcohol and/or drugs to remove your inhibitions

* Dress in ways to deliberately catch your eyes. They want your attention and will do what it takes to get it.

* Texting and "sexting". They don't mind sharing photos of themselves without clothes or in sexual poses.

* Dance seductively, suggestively or downright vulgarly.

* Pornography

They make sure you know they are available and ready for sex with every artifice they can use to get you hot and bothered.

"Whores can play hard to get – or easy to have. They might be down and dirty – or upright and noble (Proverbs 7:14). They can offer love – or threaten revenge. They might take you with words – or with touches. They can be mysterious – or bold. They can appear to be slipping away – or promising eternal adoration. They can pretend to be innocent and virtuous – or they can be wildly bold. They will change to chain you to them!" - LetGodBeTrue.com

This is not to say that a girl or woman deserves to be mistreated in any way. No matter what artifices she uses to tempt you to a sexual liaison, she is still a human being whom God created and loves. She is redeemable. If she ever turns to God and repents, God loves her and she will be saved and forgiven just like you. This is not to say that a boy or a man deserves to be mistreated in any way. He may be strutting his stuff and thinking all the women want him. But he is a human being whom God loves.

Remember, it takes two to tango. If a man/woman is enticing you and trying to seduce you, you can walk away. But if you give in, you are to blame as much as the one who seduced you. You know better and you have the freedom of choice (unless we are talking about a rape which is a totally different story). This is a father warning a son (and could be a mother warning a daughter) of the dangers of promiscuous women (men). So the strange woman (or man) is not more sinful than you if you fall to their enticements. You are both in the wrong. You are both in need of repentance and forgiveness.

These two verses are saying that someone, who has no concern for their eternity and who lives for the moment, is unstable and has no future other than death. If you follow this person and fall into their lifestyle, you become like them. You will be no better. You also will be unstable and without a future, living for the moment. Searching for a high. Never finding anything of value.

I know of young men who are handsome, young, virile, educated, with jobs. They seem to have a future. But, in reality, they live for the weekends (or any leisure time) where they can "party" and sleep with any girl. They don't have a meaningful relationship. If they sleep with a girl more than once, she's considered a girlfriend until someone else catches their eye or the girlfriend no longer meets their needs for whatever reason. They just go from girl to girl. They aren't finding a girl to marry, just a girl to pump up their ego and give them sexual release. Then it's on to the next. Before they know it, they are in their 30's and still no wife or children. But women are still throwing themselves at them so they continue on in their aimless ways in the romance department. Then they are in their 40's and middle aged and no wife. Then they are in their 50's, not looking so good, not as many women interested. Then they are in their 60's. Nobody to share their life with. No wife (or husband) that you have shared memories with. Loneliness sets in. Then you begin to have health problems but there is no wife (or husband) to help you. I knew one man who had been a player all his life. He loved to brag about all his girlfriends and all the women who wanted to marry him but he never would. But then he was in his 60's and lonely in his house. He had no wife to share with and he began to have health problems but no one to help him. He became so lonely and in need of help that he advertised for a woman to marry him with the prospect of inheriting his money when he was gone. Of course, that's a dangerous thing to do. Unscrupulous women could come in, take over and even kill you for your money! Another man was in the same predicament and he purchased prostitutes to give him companionship only to find them stealing from him. They got the lay of the land, saw he was vulnerable and their men friends stole everything they could get their hands on in broad daylight! Another old man I know tried to contact old girlfriends to see if they were still interested and would marry him! Marrying an old man, with health problems who had refused to marry them back in the day?!? Who in their right mind would answer that call? These men, who were such players in the day, will grow old and lonely because they refused to put in the effort of cultivating a good marriage with a good woman. And the same can be said of women who once had a steady stream of boyfriends but who are now old and lonely because they didn't look for a good man and hold onto him. There are plenty of women out there that sold themselves short and are now without companionship.

Unfortunately, today, men have no problem finding one woman after another to use. Women have no dignity or self respect and literally throw themselves at boys/men to be used. I don't understand it. Women don't ask anything of the men they let use them (unless they are paid prostitutes and they ask for money). They don't even ask for the price of a nice dinner and movie before they have sex with a man! Men now expect women to have sex with them without even a date, or on the first date. They "hook up" in a parking lot, in the backseat of a car, out the back door, in a public restroom! So, men have no problem finding willing women who have so little self respect that they give their favors away for nothing. No commitments, not even a date or a 2nd date! A woman like that becomes nothing less than a public toilet for men to use. And a man who uses a woman like that has become nothing more than a spouting bidette for a woman to use.

My Mother told me, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" And she was so right. Why should a man take on the responsibility of a wife when he can get free sex? There is absolutely no reason for someone to gamble on a marriage. Why go to all the trouble when you get what you want for free? Why run the risk when there is no reason to?

When my husband married me, he took me as his financial responsibility. I eventually became disabled and cannot work. If he was the one who was disabled and couldn't work, and I was able, he would be my financial responsibility. It is no one else's responsibility. Not my parents, not his parents, not the government, not friends or family. We are each other's responsibility. When we got married his finances became mine and vice versa. We have a joint bank account and his money is mine and mine is his. That is how it's been from Day 1. I tease him that his job is to make the money and my job is to spend it. I try not to be irresponsible or abusive of his trust in me. Our parents didn't throw us out of the home, they've always been supportive, but not financially. It was understood, without having to be said, that once we were married, we were on our own and were responsible for our own finances. We had to pay our own bills. If something had happened and they had to take us in, we would have known to do everything in our power to "pay them back" whether it was financially or by doing chores, by being agreeable and trustworthy. I.e. so that they would not regret having helped us. And it would be temporary (unless it was something like a disability). They would have taken us in rather than left us on the street, no doubt! They knew the same for them. I always had room in case one or more of our parents had needed it. They would never abandon us and they would never have been abandoned. That's not what I mean. But we knew it was our responsibility to take care of ourselves. Thank God, we never experienced a time of devastation that put us back in our parents' home. God has been good and we've always paid our bills. My parents were welcome in our home and as they aged, it could have been a reality. But they both passed away before it became necessary. My husband's mother would be welcome in our home if she needed it. At her age, we've offered more than once, but she wants to stay in her own home for now. The only way we would have put them in a nursing home would have been if we couldn't physically care for them. I.e. if they had medical needs we couldn't take care of as we aren't doctors. And then it wouldn't have been to abandon them there but to continue to go and be sure they were well taken care of and they knew they were loved. Thank God we haven't had to go through these things but many have and I understand your pain and your decisions.

My husband also took me as his emotional responsibility and I took him as my emotional responsibility. He puts up with my crying or being mad and I put up with his temper tantrums or emotional see-saws. I also learned how to deal with his likes and dislikes and he learned how to deal with mine. There was give and take, cooperation, understanding, teamwork. Marriage is a LOT of work. You have to learn how to get along and work together.

Why would you take on the responsibility and the work to keep up a marriage when you think you can get all the benefits of a marriage for nothing? Men and women move in together and live together without the benefit of marriage. They are really just playing at housekeeping like little kids. The end result can be very catastrophic to one or both partners. All it takes is one fight and someone moves out. It depends on how far you went in playing house, as to how devastating this is. Do you have children together? Did you buy a house together? Did you invest together? Did one person pay all the bills and now resents the "wasted" money? These are just some of the complications of playing house. Of course, there are complications to spouses going through a divorce too. But marriage makes it a little harder to get out of and therefore a majority of people will at least think twice before divorce and give a little more effort to keep from dissolving a marriage. Whereas someone who is playing house can up and move out over a little rift or tiff. My advice is to think long and hard about sex and marriage (or not marrying). There are a lot of complications that people ignore and it comes home to roost at the end of the day.

To get back to my point, men and women today don't seem to think anything about having sex with almost total strangers or sex with no strings attached. Sometimes a woman doesn't have to use any artifices to get a man to have sex with her and vice versa. There is no mystery, seduction, flirting, romance... it's just straight to the sex. But this verse is saying people who practise promiscuity and sex outside of marriage are on a bad path leading nowhere.

The advice here is to "consider" or "ponder" her path. That word means to roll flat, to revolve, to weigh. If you have a rolled up map, you would have to unroll it in order to study the map.

You need to roll out the map of your life and see where you want to be, what kind of person you want to be, who you want in your life. I'm not saying that we can plan everything about our life. Some people try to. But God is the only one that knows the whole plan of our life. But what I mean is what kind of person you want to be and who you want with you in your end days, if you grow old. Do you want to be alone? Do you want to marry someone who may, or may not, be faithful? Do you want someone to share your life or someone just for temporary kicks? Are you looking in the right places for quality spouses? Are you treating people as you would want to be treated? If you want someone to be faithful to you, you have to be faithful to them. If you want someone to be honest and dependable, you have to be honest and dependable. If you want someone who has good character and integrity, you must be that kind of person. And you must treat others with respect and honor and not like a piece of trash you use and throw away! Otherwise, you may find yourself being used and thrown away one day.

Who do you want to be the mother of your children (or the father of your children)? Are you a good example of a man or woman? Would someone point to you and say, "There is a good catch." Not because you are handsome and wear nice clothes but because you are a good person.

God knows what He is talking about when He counsels us to keep sex within a marriage. His commands are not capricious and malicious but loving and kind. He is kind to warn us. He is loving to warn us. He is trying to save you trouble and heartache.

• Have you ever used artifices to attract someone? Was it fake or real (fake eyelashes or real ones, fake smile or real smile, fake line or real conversation)? Why would you use fake? Did you go overboard and end up in trouble?
• Have you ever mistreated a girlfriend (or boyfriend)? Did someone come to your mind? Did you use someone and now you know it was wrong? God loves you and He loves them, He will forgive. If you repent, just ask for His forgiveness right now.
• Have you ever rolled out a plan for the kind of person you want to be and the kind of person you want to be with when you begin to grow old? Maybe now is a good time to think about it. I'm not talking about hair color, weight, clothes... those are all temporary and will change as we age. You will age too. But the kind of personality traits you value, in yourself and in your spouse.

Click here for all my studies on Proverbs.