Proverbs Chapter 5 verse 16 Holy Bible
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets?
read chapter 5 in ASV
Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.
read chapter 5 in BBE
Thy fountains shall be poured forth, as water-brooks in the broadways.
read chapter 5 in DARBY
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
read chapter 5 in KJV
read chapter 5 in WBT
Should your springs overflow in the streets, Streams of water in the public squares?
read chapter 5 in WEB
Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
read chapter 5 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 16. - Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. The figurative language is still continued, and under the terms "fountains" and "rivers of waters," are to be understood children, the legitimate issue of lawful marriage. So Aben Ezra and the majority of modern commentators, Schultens, Doderlein, Holden, Muenscher, Noyes, Wardlaw, etc. The meaning appears to be, "Let thy marriage be blessed with many children, who may go forth abroad for the public good." Other interpretations have been adopted. Thus: (1) Delitzsch takes the words fountans and "rivers of waters" as used figuratively for the procreative power, and renders, "Shall thy streams flow abroad, and water brooks in the streets?" and interprets, "Let generative power act freely and unrestrainedly within the marriage relation." (2) Schultens and Dathe, followed by Holden, regard the verse as expressing a conclusion on the preceding, "Then shall thy springs be dispersed abroad, even rivers of waters in the streets." The objection to this is that it necessitates the insertion of the copulative vau (ו) before the verb, yaphutzu, "be dispersed." (3) Zockler and Hitzig read the verse interrogatively, "Shall thy streams flow abroad as water brooks in the streets?" on the analogy of Proverbs 6:30 and Psalm 56:7. . . .
