Proverbs puts forth a vision of marriage that is compelling and joyful. It also exposes one of the greatest lies of all: that adultery is worth it and to your own advantage.

The Value of a Good Wife and Joy of Marriage

• To be married is to find a blessed and beautiful thing, and it is a gift from God (18:22).
• A prudent wife is a unique gift from God (19:14).
• An excellent wife brings honour to her husband (12:4).
• She is a rare treasure, and is known for her:
  • industriousness (31:13-15, 18-19, 27),
  • foresight and shrewdness (31:16, 24, 27),
  • compassion (31:20),
  • strength and fortitude (31:17, 25),
  • wise and rich provision (31:21-22),
  • inner beauty (31:26),
  • glad and thankful family (31:11-12, 28).
• Marriage is pictured as a fountain which is to be enjoyed, to the point of a kind of intoxication (5:18-19).

The Pains of a Bad Marriage

• Contentiousness is wearisome (19:13).
• An embarrassing and shameful spouse is like an inner decay (12:4).
• The wrong kind of woman destroys the very thing she is to be building (14:1).

The Pains of Adultery

• The Immoral Woman promises pleasure, but the end result is bitterness, pain, death, and poverty (5:3-20).
• Adultery will bring ruin, dishonour, and retribution. The consequences of adultery are unavoidable and inevitable. To pursue it is to sin against your own soul (6:23-35).
• A foolish young man first toys with temptation (7:7-9). The adulterous woman dresses to allure, she has refused to submit to any authority, she feigns religiosity, she tempts him physically, she assures him of no consequences (7:10-21). However, he is as one who has been darted with poison (22-23). Proverbs warns against going at all in her ways (24-27).
• Adultery seems to have a sweet promise (9:17), but it leads to death (9:11-18).
• Beauty without discretion is not fitting (11:22, 31:30).
• Going after the loose woman is a deep pit of destruction (23:26-28).
• The adulteress has become calloused in her conscience (30:20).

Proverbs is not only counselling against marital unfaithfulness, but pre-marital unfaithfulness. It is warning against sexual immorality in general, and pointing out the scarring it brings: shame, dishonour, poverty, possible disease, revenge, and eventual death. Nations given over to immorality are walking down a path of destruction.

Nations built upon strong families, which are built upon faithfulness and mutual joy, can expect honour, joy, provision, and general gladness.