What is the meaning of Proverbs 5:23?

He dies

• The consequence is literal and certain: “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

• Both physical ruin (Proverbs 7:22-23) and eternal separation from God (Revelation 21:8) are in view.

• Sin always progresses toward this end: “When sin is full-grown, it gives birth to death” (James 1:15).

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for lack of discipline

• The issue isn’t ignorance but refusing self-control; “poverty and shame come to him who ignores discipline” (Proverbs 13:18).

• God provides the means: “power, love, and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). Rejecting it is self-sabotage.

• Discipline is the guardrail Solomon urged earlier: “drink water from your own cistern” (Proverbs 5:15).

• Hebrews 12:11 reminds us discipline feels painful now but “yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” later.

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led astray

• “He who rejects reproof goes astray” (Proverbs 10:17). Wandering starts with small compromises.

• The picture matches the gullible youth who follows the adulteress “like an ox going to the slaughter” (Proverbs 7:22-23).

• Isaiah 53:6 admits our universal tendency: “We all like sheep have gone astray.”

• Being “led astray” highlights sin’s seduction, yet personal choice still drives the drift.

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by his own great folly

• Responsibility is personal: “the waywardness of the simple will slay them” (Proverbs 1:32).

• Galatians 6:7 warns, “Whatever a man sows, he will reap.”

• The heart’s deceit (Jeremiah 17:9) fuels the folly; no external force excuses the outcome.

• “Great” folly underscores deliberate, repeated rejection of wisdom, not a single misstep.

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summary

Proverbs 5:23 reveals a sober formula: ignoring God-given discipline lets desire lead us off the path, and our own deliberate foolishness completes the journey to death. Wisdom listens, submits, and lives; folly refuses, wanders, and perishes.