John Gill Commentary Proverbs 5:20

"For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?" — Proverbs 5:20 (ASV)

And why will you, my son, be ravished with a strange woman ^F25; &c.] Or "err with her"; after all those inconveniences and miseries that follow upon a conversation with a harlot, and all those advantages of a marriage state set before you; why will you be, so foolish and mad as to have a fondness for a harlot and dote upon her, and neglect entering into a marriage state, or forsake the wife of your youth?

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And yet though things are so clearly stated and aptly represented, and the expostulation made in the most tender and affectionate manner; it is suggested as if after all it would not be attended unto, but a harlot be preferred to a wife of youth, a filthy beast to a loving hind, and dirty puddles of water in a ditch to running streams from a well or fountain; and embrace the bosom of a stranger ?
that is not your wife; a description of unlawful love and impure embraces, which are dissuaded from.

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: "Errares", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "aberrares", Cocceius.