Wormwood in the Bone

The song

Wormwood in the Bone takes its title from Proverbs 5’s most bitter image. The forbidden woman’s lips drip honey, but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, the plant whose name became shorthand for bitterness, and as sharp as a two-edged sword. The song follows the chapter’s arc from sweet to bitter, from a stolen thrill to a wasted life and the groan at the end. It also carries the chapter’s surprising alternative: drink from your own well, and rejoice in the wife of your youth.

The chapter at a glance

Proverbs 5 is the second warning about the forbidden woman (after 2:16–19). It doesn’t just say “don’t.” It counts the cost, then offers something better.

Listen (vv. 1–2): Pay attention so that your lips guard knowledge.
The truth about her (vv. 3–6): Sweet at first, bitter at the end; her steps go down to death, and she doesn’t even notice her path wanders.
The cost (vv. 7–14): Keep far away, or you’ll lose your strength, years, wealth and honor to strangers, and groan at the end of your life.
The better way (vv. 15–20): Drink water from your own cistern. Rejoice in your wife. Be captivated by her love.
The final word (vv. 21–23): God sees every path. The wicked are caught in the cords of their own sin and die for lack of discipline.

Walkthrough

5:1–2 — Lips that keep knowledge

“My son, attend unto my wisdom” (v. 1). The goal is that you may keep discretion and that your lips may keep knowledge (v. 2). The chapter will be all about lips: the forbidden woman’s lips drip honey. The answer to seductive speech is a mouth trained by wisdom.

5:3–6 — Honey and wormwood

“For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil” (v. 3). Her appeal is real. Proverbs never pretends temptation isn’t attractive. “But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword” (v. 4). Wormwood is a bitter plant, used in Scripture as a picture of grief and judgment (Deut. 29:18; Lam. 3:15). The whole chapter turns on the difference between the first taste and the aftertaste.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold of the grave (v. 5). And the saddest detail: she doesn’t ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it (v. 6). She isn’t a mastermind. She is lost too, and she drags others along.

5:7–8 — Keep your distance

“Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house” (v. 8). The first defense isn’t willpower at close range. It’s distance. Don’t walk past the door. Chapter 7 shows what happens to a young man who does.

5:9–14 — What it costs

The father lists the losses, and they are thorough.

Your honor and years go to others and to someone cruel (v. 9).
Your strength and labor end up enriching strangers (v. 10). Affairs are expensive, in money, legal cost and broken households.
Your body wastes away, and you groan at the end (v. 11).
Your memory becomes regret: “How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof” (v. 12). I didn’t listen to my teachers (v. 13).
Your reputation collapses in public: I was at the point of utter ruin in the assembly of the congregation (v. 14).

This is the “bone” in the song title: the bitterness gets all the way in. And the groan isn’t mainly about punishment from outside. It’s the regret of someone who knew better.

5:15–17 — Your own well

Then the father makes a turn that surprises many readers. He doesn’t only forbid; he celebrates. “Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well” (v. 15). In a dry land, a private well was precious. The image is marriage: sexual love is a good gift, meant to be enjoyed within its own boundaries.

Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? (v. 16). Let them be yours alone, not shared with strangers (v. 17). Faithfulness isn’t stinginess. It’s keeping something precious from being poured into the gutter.

5:18–20 — Rejoice in her

“Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth” (v. 18). This is the key verse, and it is a command to joy. The father goes further, in language that is warm and frank: let her be like a loving doe and a graceful deer; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be intoxicated always with her love (v. 19). The same word for being “ravished” or led astray is used of the forbidden woman in verse 20. The father is redirecting desire, not suppressing it. Why be intoxicated with a stranger, when you can be intoxicated with your own wife?

The Bible’s answer to sexual temptation isn’t a cold suspicion of desire. It’s delight in the right place. The Song of Songs celebrates the same thing at length.

5:21–23 — God sees, sin binds

The chapter ends by widening the frame. “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings” (v. 21). Secret sins are never secret. Then a picture of how sin works: the wicked man’s own iniquities trap him, and he is held fast by the cords of his sin (v. 22). He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by the greatness of his folly (v. 23). The word “led astray” is the same word as “intoxicated” in verses 19–20. Either you’re carried away by love for your spouse, or you’re carried away by folly to death.

Living it

Judge by the aftertaste. Temptation sells the first bite. Ask what it tastes like at the end, for you, your spouse, your kids, your church.
Distance beats willpower. Don’t stand at the door and try to be strong. Change your route, your apps, your habits.
Count the real cost. Time, money, health, reputation, and the regret of having been warned. Write the list before you need it.
Delight is a defense. Invest in your marriage: time, attention, affection, fun. A well tended at home makes stolen water less tempting.
Single and listening? Guard your future marriage now. Your “fountain” is worth keeping for the one it belongs to.
Nothing is hidden. God sees every path. That’s a warning, and also a comfort: he sees the struggle too, and he forgives those who come to him.

Key verse

Proverbs 5:18 — “Let thy fountain be blessed; and rejoice in the wife of thy youth.” (ASV)

The best defense against stolen water is joy at your own well.

Lyrics