You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
Parallel Translations
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You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
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And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
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And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Proverbs 5:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 6:21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
- Revelation 22:15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Numbers 5:27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people.
- Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Deuteronomy 32:29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
- Proverbs 7:23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
- 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
- Revelation 21:8 But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when…
Pro 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
Ver. 11. And thou mourn at the last.] Heb., And thou roar; as being upon the rack of an evil conscience, and in the suburbs of hell, as it were: while "the just Lord" {Zep 3:5} makes thee, even here, possess the sins of thy youth, and writes bitter things against thee. The word signifies, To roar as a lion, or as the sea, {a} or as the devil doth. For the devils believe and tremble, or roar. {Jas 2:19} Grecians ascribe the original, φρισσουσι, to the roaring of the sea. {b}
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When thy flesh and thy body.] By the word here rendered body, there are those who understand the radical humour, the natural moisture that maintains life, and is much impaired by this sensual sin. {c} Avicenna doubted not to say, that the emission of a little seed more than the body could well bear, was a great deal more hurtful than the loss of forty times so much blood. Gouts, palsies, epilepsies, &c., oft follow upon this sin: but the French disease is the natural fruit of it, such as will stick by men when their best friends forsake them. "Jezebel is cast into a bed, and they that commit adultery with her, into great tribulation." {Rev 2:20} The Popish libidinous {d} clergy are smitten with ulcers. {Rev 16:11} Their pope, Paul the Fourth, died ex nimio veneris usu, saith the historian, {e} by wasting his strength in filthy pleasure, as the flame consumeth the candle.
{a} φριξ est maris agitatio.
{b} Hom. Iliad. H. vide Eustath.
{c} Venus ab antiquis λυσιμελης dicta.
{d} Of persons, their lives, actions, desires: Given to, full of, or characterized by lust or lewdness; lustful, lecherous, lewd.
{e} Runius De Vit. Pontif.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thou mourn at the last; bitterly bewail thy own…
Thou mourn at the last; bitterly bewail thy own madness and misery when it is too late.
Thy flesh and thy body; thy flesh, even thy body; the particle and being put expositively.
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Consumed by those manifold diseases which filthy and inordinate lusts bring upon the body, of which physicians give a very large and sad catalogue, and the bodies of many adulterers give full proof.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And thou mourn at the last,.... Or roar as…
And thou mourn at the last,.... Or roar as a lion, as the word (s) signifies; see Pro 19:12; expressing great distress of mind, horror of conscience, and vehement lamentations; and yet not having and exercising true repentance, but declaring a worldly sorrow, which worketh death. This mourning is too late, and not so much on account of the evil of sin as the evil that comes by it; it is when the man could have no pleasure from it and in it; when he has not only lost his substance by it, but his health also, the loss of both which must be very distressing: it is at the end of life, in his last days; in his old age, as the Syriac version, when he can no longer pursue his unclean practices;
when thy flesh and thy body are consumed; either in the time of old age and through it, as Gersom; or rather by diseases which the sin of uncleanness brings upon persons, which affixes the several parts of it; the brain, the blood, the liver, the back, and loins, and reins; and even all the parts of it, expressed by flesh and body. This may express the great tribulation such shall be cast into that commit adultery with the Romish Jezebel, Rev 2:22.
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(s) "rugies", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Baynus, Gejerus, Amama, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. When thy flesh and thy body are…
Verse 11. When thy flesh and thy body are consumed] The word שאר shear, which we render body, signifies properly the remains, residue, or remnant of a thing: and is applied here to denote the breathing carcass, putrid with the concomitant disease of debauchery: a public reproach which the justice of God entails on this species of iniquity. The mourning here spoken of is of the most excessive kind: the word נהם naham is often applied to the growling of a lion, and the hoarse incessant murmuring of the sea. In the line of my duty, I have been often called to attend the death-bed of such persons, where groans and shrieks were incessant through the jaculating pains in their bones and flesh. Whoever has witnessed a closing scene like this will at once perceive with what force and propriety the wise man speaks. And How have I hated instruction, and despised the voice of my teachers! is the unavailing cry in that terrific time. Reader, whosoever thou art, lay these things to heart. Do not enter into their sin: once entered, thy return is nearly hopeless.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Yet one more curse is attendant on impurity. Then,…
Yet one more curse is attendant on impurity. Then, as now, disease was the penalty of this sin.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Body. He alludes to a shameful disease, the just…
Body. He alludes to a shameful disease, the just punishment of intemperance, Ecclesiasticus xix. 3.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain at the last--the end, or reward (compare Pro 5:4).
at the last--the end, or reward (compare Pro 5:4).
mourn--roar in pain.
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flesh and . . . body--the whole person under incurable disease.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. Thy flesh and thy body — The original…
11. Thy flesh and thy body — The original words seem to imply a wasted body — the remnant or remains of thee — what is left after a life of licentious habits, putrid with the diseases which follow debauchery.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11–14. The pangs of remorse and the upbraidings of…
11–14. The pangs of remorse and the upbraidings of conscience form the terrible climax to the loss of honour and health and substance.
“ ‘Going down to the chambers of death,’ wise too late, the victim of his own sins remembers with unspeakable agony the voice of his teachers, the efforts of those who wished to instruct him.”—Horton.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) When thy flesh and thy body are consumed.—Ruin…
(11) When thy flesh and thy body are consumed.—Ruin of health has followed ruin of property.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The last argument is the mental anguish which ensues…
The last argument is the mental anguish which ensues when health is ruined and wealth is squandered. And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed. The Hebrew v"nahamta is rather "and thou groan." It is not the plaintive wailing or the subdued grief of heart which is signified, but the loud wail of lamentation, the groaning indicative of intense mental suffering called forth by the remembrance of past folly, and which sees no remedy in the future. The verb naham occurs again in Pro_28:15, where it is used of the roaring of the lion, and the cognate noun naham is met with in Pro_19:12 and Pro_20:2 in the same sense. By Ezekiel it is used of the groaning of the people of Jerusalem when they shall see their sanctuary profaned, their sons and their daughters fall by the sword, and their city destroyed. (Eze_24:23) Isaiah (Isa_5:29, Isa_5:30) applies it to the roaring of the sea. The Vulgate reproduces the idea in gemas, equivalent to "and thou groan." The LXX rendering, kai metamelhyhsh , "and thou shelf repent," arising from the adoption of a different pointing, nikhamta , from the niph. nikham, "to repent," for nahamta, to some extent expresses the sense. At the last; literally, at thine end; i.e. when thou art ruined, or, as the teacher explains, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed. The expression, "thy flesh and thy body," here stands for the whole body, the body in its totality, not the body and the soul, which would be different. Of these two words "the flesh" (basar) rather denotes the flesh in its strict sense as such, (cf. Job_31:31 Job_33:21) while "body" (sh"er) is the flesh adhering to the bones. Gesenlus regards them as synonymous terms, stating, however, that sh"er is the more poetical as to use. The word basar is used to denote the whole body in ch. 14:30. It is clear that, by the use of these two terms here, the teacher is following a peculiarity observable elsewhere in the Proverbs, of combining two terms to express, and so to give force to, one idea. The expression describes "the utter destruction of the libertine" (Umbreit). This destruction, as further involving the ruin of the soul, is described in Pro_6:32, "Whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding; he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul (nephesh)". (cf. Pro_7:22, Pro_7:23)
Mourning at the last.
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What multitudes of men and women have there been who, on beds of pain, or in homes of poverty, or under strong spiritual apprehension, have "mourned at the last"! After tasting and "enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season," they have found that iniquity must meet its doom, and they have "mourned at the last." Sin makes fair promises, but breaks its word. It owns that there is a debt due for guilty pleasure, but it hints that it will not send in the bill for many years; perhaps never: but that account has to be settled, and they who persist in sinful indulgence will find, when it is too late, that they have to "mourn at the last." This is true of
I SLOTHFULNESS. Very pleasant to be idling when others are busy, to be following the bent of our own fancy, dallying with the passing hours, amusing ourselves the whole day long, the whole year through; but there is retribution for wasted hours, for misspent youth, for negligent and idle manhood, to be endured further on; there is self-reproach, condemnation of the good and wise, an ill-regulated mind, straitened means if not poverty, mourning at the last.
II INTEMPERANCE. Very tempting may be the jovial feast, very fascinating the sparkling cup, Very inviting the hilarity of the festive circle; but there is the end of it all to be taken into account, not only tomorrow"s pain or lassitude, but the forfeiture of esteem, the weakening of the soul"s capacity for pure enjoyment, the depravation of the taste, the encircling round the spirit of those cruel fetters which "at the last" hold it in cruel bondage.
III LASCIVIOUSNESS. (See previous homily.)
IV WORLDLINESS. There is a strong temptation presented to men to throw themselves into, so as to be absorbed by, the affairs of time and sense business, politics, literature, art, one or other of the various amusements which entertain and gratify. This inordinate, excessive, unqualified devotion to any earthly pursuit, while it is to be distinguished from abandonment to forbidden pleasure, is yet wrong and ruinous. It is wrong, for it leaves out of reckoning the supreme obligation that which we owe to him in whom we live and move and have our being, and who has redeemed us with his own blood. It is ruinous, for it leaves us
(1) without the heritage we were meant to have, and may have, in God, in Jesus Christ and his blessed service and salvation;
(2) unprepared for the other and larger life which is so near to us, and to which we approach by every step we take. However pleasant be the pursuits we engage in or the prizes we win, we shall wake one day from our dream with shame and fear; we shall "mourn at the last. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And thou mourn at the last.
Pro_5:11
And thou mourn at the last.
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Dying regrets
Religion has one undeniable advantage to recommend it--whatever it calls us to sacrifice or to suffer, it always ends well. On the other hand, sin has one undeniable evil to excite our aversion and horror--whatever sensual pleasures and imaginary profit attend its course, it always ends awfully.
I. The subject of these regrets. It is a man who has disregarded through life the means employed to preserve or reclaim him. Mans instructors and reprovers may be ranked in six classes.
1. Your connections in life. Father, mother, friend, etc.
2. The Scriptures.
3. Ministers.
4. Conscience.
5. Irrational creatures.
6. The dispensations of Providence.
II. The period of these regrets. It is a dying hour.
1. Such a period is unavoidable.
2. It cannot be far off.
3. It may be very near.
4. It is sometimes prematurely brought on by sin. Such a period, if it be not prematurely produced by irreligion, is always embittered by it.
III. The nature of these regrets. This mourning has two attributes to distinguish it.
1. It is dreadful. A dying hour has been called an honest hour.
2. It is useless. To the individuals themselves, whatever it may be to others.
Lessons:
1. How good is God!
2. How fallen is man!
3. How important is serious thought! (William Jay.)
At the last.--
Last things
The wise man saw the young and simple straying into the house of the strange woman. It was not what it seemed to be. Could he shed a revealing light upon it? He saw only one lamp suitable to his purpose; it was named At the last. He held this up, and the young mans delusion was dispelled. He saw in its light the awful consequences of self-indulgence and sin. If this lamp is useful in this one case, it may be useful in others. I can only compare my text in its matchless power to Ithuriels spear, with which, according to Milton, he touched the toad, and straightway Satan appeared in his true colours. This lamp has four sides to it.
I. Death is at the last. In some sense it is the last of this mortal life; it is the last of this period of trial here below; it is the last of the day of grace; it is the last of the day of mortal sin. In the light of death look upon mortal sins. The greatest of human actions will appear to be insignificant when we come to die. Look at our selfish actions in this light. How will sin then appear?
II. Judgment is at the last. When we die, we die not. When a man dieth shall he live again? Ay, that he shall--for his spirit dieth never. After death comes the judgment. Look at the past, the present, the future, in the light of that judgment.
III. Heaven is at the last. Look on all our actions in the light of heaven.
IV. Hell is at the last. See things in that dread and dismal light, the glare of the fiery abyss. How will self-indulgence, unbelief, procrastination look in that light? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
When thy flesh and thy body are consumed.--
Sins recompense
If all men believed at the beginning of their courses of life what they find at the end, there would be far less power in temptation, and many would turn aside from those paths which bring them to ruin; but it is one of the peculiarities of youth that, while it has unbounded faith in certain directions, it seldom has faith in regard to mischiefs which befall disobedience. There are many reasons which conspire to make men either over-confident in the beginnings of life, or even audacious.
1. The inexperience and thoughtlessness which belong to the young. Thousands there are who have taken no pains in the formation of their consciences.
2. There is a most defiant spirit in the young.
3. There is a hopefulness which frequently goes beyond all bounds.
4. There are reactions from an infelicitous way of teaching which tend to produce presumption in the young. Especially the exaggeration and indiscriminate way in which sin is often held forth. Conventional sins are held up before men as representing sinning, until there comes up a scepticism of the whole doctrine and the whole sad and melancholy experience of sinning.
5. Men are made presumptuous in sinning because they see wicked men prospering. They regard that as the refutation of half the preaching, and of almost all the advice they hear. There is a law of everlasting rectitude. There are conditions on which mens bodies will serve them happily, and there are conditions on which mens souls will serve them happily. But if a man violate these conditions, no matter how secretly, no matter how little, just as sure as there is a God in heaven, he must suffer the penalty. Every one of the wrongs which a man commits against his own soul will find him out, and administer its own penalty. There comes a time when men who are not actually worn out by excess of transgression do regain, to some extent, their moral sense. After the period of infatuation there comes, very frequently, a period of retrospection. It is alluded to in the passage now before us. The resurrection of moral sensibility comes through a variety of agencies--failure, shame, affliction, etc. Sometimes it comes too late. I beseech you, young men, believe in virtue; believe in truth; believe in honesty and fidelity; believe in honour; believe in God; believe in Gods law and in Gods providence. Put your trust in God, and in the faith of God, and not in the seeming of deceitful and apparently prosperous men. Whatever else you get, have peace, day by day, with your own conscience. Whoever else you offend, do not offend your God. Do what is right, and then fear no man. (H. W. Beecher.)
The doom of the libertine
I. Waste of wealth. It is spent to garnish the house of sin; it is so much taken from home-scenes, and legitimate pleasures and benevolence.
II. Waste of health. Note the corruption of licentious nations, as the Turks, etc.
III. Waste of tears. Mourning at the last is too late for proving the repentance to be genuine. (Anon.)
A dissolute young man
I. A dissolute young man with a decaying body. The wise man foresaw the wretched physical condition to which the dissolute life of the young man whom he calls his son would lead.
1. It is a sad sight to see a young man decay at all.
2. It is more sad when the physical decay has been produced by a dissolute life.
II. A dissolute young man with an active memory.
1. He remembers the many privileges he has abused.
2. He remembers the sinful scenes of his life.
III. A dissolute young man with a torturing conscience.
1. An agonising sense of self-blamefulness. Conscience casts all excuses to the winds; it fastens the crime home on the individual himself.
2. An agonising sense of self-ruin. The moral wail here breathes the feeling of destruction. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The woes of wantonness
I. Lamentation follows wantonness.
1. When men find their goods gone and their bodies corrupted.
2. When they see all their opportunities of doing good to soul and body gone.
3. They feel Gods hand heavy on them, as being on the rack of an evil conscience.
II. The end of wanton courses is sorrowful.
1. Because of pleasures past.
2. Because of present sorrows.
3. Because of pursuing pain that is gotten by disease.
4. Because of public shame.
III. The body itself is consumed by wantonness. Because it consumes the radical humour of the body. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 your flesh and your body waste away
your flesh and your body waste away
The words "flesh" and "body" mean basically the same thing and represent the whole person. AT: "your body wastes away" or "you waste away" (See: Doublet)
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waste away
"physically wear down" or "become weak and unhealthy"
I hated instruction ... my heart despised correction
These two phrases express the same idea and emphasize how much this person disliked what the teacher had said. (See: Parallelism)
How I hated instruction
The word "How" is an exclamation that emphasizes the strength of his hatred. The word "instruction" can be translated with a verbal phrase. AT: "I hated it so much when someone would instruct me" (See: Exclamations and Abstract Nouns)
my heart despised correction
Here the word "heart" represents the person and his emotions. The word "correction" can be translated with a verbal phrase. AT: "I despised people when they corrected me" (See: Synecdoche and Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
life
discipline
heart
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:11 Some sexually transmitted diseases were well known in…
5:11 Some sexually transmitted diseases were well known in the ancient Near East. Leviticus 15:1-15 describes what is probably gonorrhea; other texts from Mesopotamia describe “the disease of intercourse” and the “disease of Ishtar” (goddess of love) with the physical symptoms of venereal diseases.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.