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1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: 2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. 3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. 7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: 9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: 10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; 11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. 15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. 20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. 22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. 23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
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[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Proverbs 5:1
“Attend to my wisdom, and bow your ear to my prudence, that you may guard your thoughts. For, indeed, nothing is more fugitive than the heart, which deserts us as often as it slips away through evil thoughts. Therefore, the psalmist says, “My heart has failed me.” Yet, when he returns to himself, he says, “Your servant has found his heart to pray to you.” When, therefore, thought is kept under guard, the heart which was inclined to fly away is found.

Source: PASTORAL RULE 3:14.15
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:1
My son, attend to my wisdom, etc. Until now he had generally rebuked the listener; hence under the guise of the harlot, he prohibits from the wickedness of heretics.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:2
That you may guard your thoughts, etc. Thoughts, by which you rightly believe; lips, by which you profess the faith itself in simple words, and usual, as well as ecclesiastical ones. But, according to the letter: He who adheres to a harlot defiles even his lips, either by kissing or speaking foul things.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Proverbs 5:3-4
“In the end,” [Solomon] says, “you will find what seemed sweet in the beginning to be more bitter than gall and sharper than the edge of a sword.” But the nature of righteousness is the opposite: In the beginning, it seems more bitter, but in the end, when it produces fruits of virtue, it is found to be sweeter than honey.

Source: HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 14:2
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Proverbs 5:3-4
Even when the sinner looks for gratification, he doesn’t find the fruit of his sin pleasant. As the wisdom of God says in another place, “Bread of deceit is pleasant to a man, but after he eats it, his mouth will be filled with gravel.” And, “Honey drips from the lips of an adulteress, and for a time it tastes sweet, but in the end you will find it more bitter than gall and sharper than a two-edged sword.” So he eats and is quite pleased for a little while. Then, when it is too late, when he has cut off his soul from God, he rejects it. But the fool does not know that those who are cut off from God shall perish.

Source: LETTER 7:5
[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on Proverbs 5:3-4
What does it profit a man to be an expert theologian if he is a shameless fornicator; or to be nobly temperate but an impious blasphemer? The knowledge of doctrines is a precious possession. There is need of a vigilant soul, since many there are who would deceive you by philosophy and vain deceit. The Greeks, indeed, by their smooth tongue lead men astray, for honey drops from the lips of a harlot.

Source: Catechetical Lecture 4:2
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Proverbs 5:3-4
The harlot knows not how to love, but only to ensnare. Her kiss has poison, and her mouth a pernicious drug. And if this does not immediately appear, it is the more necessary to avoid her on that account, because she veils that destruction, and keeps that death concealed, and does not permit it to become manifest from the outset. So if any one pursues pleasure and a life full of gladness, let him avoid the society of fornicating women, for they fill the minds of their lovers with a thousand conflicts and tumults, setting in motion against them continual strifes and contentions, by means of their words and all their actions. And just as it is with those who are the most virulent enemies, so the object of their actions and schemes is to plunge their lovers into shame and poverty and the worst extremities. And in the same manner as hunters when they have spread out their nets, they try to drive the wild animals into them, in order that they may put them to death. So also it is with these women.

Source: HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 14:10
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Proverbs 5:3-4
In a very short time [the devil] leads the proud and wicked to death on a broad and spacious path. Christ our Lord, on the contrary, leads the humble and obedient to life on the straight and narrow path. Both of these roads, the wide one and the narrow one, have an end and are very short. Labor is not long on the narrow road, nor is joy lengthy on the broad one. Those whom the broad way of wickedness delights, after brief joy will have endless punishment. Those who follow Christ on the narrow way, after brief tribulations will merit to reach eternal rewards. If a layman who is in the world possesses pride, it is a sin for him. If a monk is proud, it is a sacrilege. You ought to show yourselves living so holy a life, so justly and piously in such a way that your merits may not only suffice for you but also find pardon in this world for other sinners. If we do not bridle our tongue, our religion is not true but false; and it would have been better not to have made a vow than after the vow not to do what was promised.

Source: SERMON 233:7
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Proverbs 5:3-4
Let us reflect on what is written concerning dissipation and evil desires: “The lips of an adulteress are sweet for a time,” it says, “but in the end she is more bitter than gall.” Now since our life in this world is known to be, as it were, a road, it is necessary for us to reach rest as the result of our labor rather than labor as the result of rest. It is better for us to work for a short time on the way, in order that afterwards we may be able happily to reach eternal joy in our [home country], with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

Source: SERMON 231:6
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:3
For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb distilling. For in the mouth of heretics, the sweetness of eloquence not only resounds to sufficiency, but to superfluity; and for this reason, because falsehood is discerned to be aptly spoken, it is deemed truth by the foolish.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:3
And her throat is smoother than oil. The Catholic faith is consecrated by the oil of the Holy Spirit, by which they who prefer their own sense to the faith of the Fathers show their throat smoother. It is evident concerning the harlot, because she seeks both the sweetness of speech and the beauty of body to capture the wretched.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:4
But her end is bitter, etc. The drink of wormwood becomes bitter within the bowels, outwardly the members are wounded by the sword. Therefore, to show the wicked in the final retribution, both internally to be filled, and externally surrounded by perpetual punishments, he assures that they will be tormented by the bitterness of wormwood, and slaughtered by the sword. And why the same sword is called two-edged, the Lord opens when he says: But fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10).

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:6
Her ways are unstable, etc. The ways of heretical deception are unstable, because some deny Christ to be God, others to be man; some deny he took flesh, others a soul; some that he was born of a virgin; some that the Holy Spirit, others that the Father is God, some prohibit confessing pardon to the repentant. And this pestilence spreads itself into such countless paths, that they cannot wholly be traced. But Catholic truth is not unstable and untraceable, because it is one and the same, known to all, throughout the world, to the faithful.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on Proverbs 5:8
We should also be particularly careful of our eyes, for it is better to slip with the feet than with the eyes. The Lord offers a remedy for this weakness, indeed, with curt words: “If your eye scandalizes you, cut it out,” thereby tearing lust up by the roots. Melting glances, and sly looks out of the corner of the eye, which is what is also called winking, are nothing more than adultery with the eyes, since lust operates at a distance through them. The sight sins before the rest of the body does. “The eye, seeing beautiful things, gladdens the heart,” that is, when it knows how to see what is right it gives joy, “but he that winks with the eye deceitfully shall cause men sorrow.”

Source: CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 3:11.69-70
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Proverbs 5:8
Your flight is a good one if your heart does not act out the counsels of sinners and their designs. Your flight is a good one if your eye flees the sight of cups and drinking vessels, so that it may not become envious as it lingers over the wine. Your flight is good if your eye turns away from the woman stranger, so that your tongue may keep the truth. Your flight is a good one if you do not answer the fool according to his folly. Your flight is good if you direct your footsteps away from the countenance of fools. Indeed, one swiftly goes astray with bad guides; but if you wish your flight to be a good one, remove your ways far from their words.

Source: FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 9:56
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:8
Keep your way far from her, etc. And the apostle says, Flee fornication (1 Corinthians 6). Because indeed the first remedy of this vice is to be far from those whose presence either allures or cooperates in the vice. But it also benefits weak listeners to be entirely separated from the hearing of heretics.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Proverbs 5:9
Who are more strange to us than the evil spirits, separated from the lot of the heavenly fatherland? What else is our honor but to have been created in the image and likeness of our Creator, though we are made in bodies of slime? And who else is more cruel but that rebel angel who through pride smote himself with the punishment of death and who, though himself lost, has deliberately brought death on the race of humankind? He, therefore, gives his honor away to strangers, who, being created in the image and likeness of God, devotes the span of his life to the commands of the malignant spirits. He, too, gives his years to the cruel, who expends the span of the life which he has received obeying the will of an adversary who dominates him for evil. .
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Proverbs 5:9
For who are more alien to us than evil spirits, who are separated from the lot of the heavenly country? And what honor is ours, though made in bodies of clay, that we are yet created after the image and likeness of our Maker? Or who is more cruel than the apostate angel, who has both afflicted himself with the pain of death through pride, and still, though lost himself, brought death to the human race? He who, being made after the image and likeness of God, gives his honor to aliens therefore devotes the seasons of his life to the pleasures of evil spirits. He also surrenders his years to the cruel one who spends the space of life accorded him after the will of the ill-domineering adversary.

Source: PASTORAL RULE 3:12.13
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:9
Do not give your honor to others, etc. Do not subject the honor by which you were created in the image of God to the wills of unclean spirits, nor waste the granted time of living according to the will of the cruel adversary. For whoever succumbs to any crime, is surely enslaved to the dominion of malignant spirits.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:10
Lest strangers be filled with your strength, etc. Lest you assist the deeds of demons, if you lend either the ingenuity of your mind or the strengths of your body to perform crimes; and you multiply the household of strangers, that is, the number of the lost, by adding yourself. And beautifully he said: Let your labors be in the house of a stranger, because there are those who, according to the prophet, labor to act wickedly. And would that it were hidden how much labor heretics have undergone against the Church.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:11
And you moan at the last, etc. To be prefixed from above, Lest perhaps. And the sense is: Therefore keep yourself chaste, lest you be forced to groan in punishments, when not only the carnal allurements pass away, but also with the body itself being left, the soul, which acted through the body, is compelled to render all things. Indeed, it often happens in this life that those who dissipated their possessions living luxuriously in youth, fall into poverty in old age. And as the heat of the flesh cools, and the flower of youth withers, they see others using their own goods, which they sold to lust, and, groaning with late repentance, say what follows:

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:12
Why did I hate instruction? etc. He calls the instruction of ecclesiastical faith; the reproaches by which heretics are rebuked, why they withdrew from the Church, he refers to them. It is evident concerning fornicators.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:14
I was almost in all evil, etc. The Church and the Synagogue are Greek names, and they signify the same thing in Latin, that is, an assembly of many together. But if they are distinguished more subtly, the Church is interpreted as a calling together, the Synagogue as a gathering together. And indeed the old people of God were called by both names. Now, however, for the sake of distinction, that one is called the Synagogue, ours is called the Church, rightfully indeed because of the greater faith and knowledge, because even irrational creatures can be gathered. Finally, God said, Let the waters be gathered into one gathering. Only the rational and sensible can be called together. But these names sometimes signify the gathering of the wicked. Hence that, "Fire burned their assembly" (Psalm 105); and, "I hated the assembly of evildoers" (Psalm 26). Therefore, what the late penitent, contemptuous of wisdom, says, "I was almost in all evil, in the midst of the congregation and assembly," seems to refer to someone sadly recognizing the magnitude of his own damnation, because he was involved in almost every sin, worthy of undergoing such torments. This adds to the heap of his miseries, that he was not merely the last of sinners, but rather in the midst and almost the leader. Or indeed, placed bodily in the midst of holy assemblies, he did not fear to lead a different life from them. And this is particularly felt about heretics because they could not be recalled from error by the sayings and examples of either the ancient fathers or the new ones.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Proverbs 5:15-17
Attempt, O hearer, to have your own well and your own spring, so that you too, when you take up a book of the Scriptures, may begin even from your own understanding to bring forth some meaning, and in accordance with those things which you have learned in the church, you too attempt to drink from the fountain of your own abilities. You have the nature of “living water” within you. There are within you perennial veins and streams flowing with rational understanding, if only they have not been filled with earth and rubbish. But get busy to dig out your earth and to clean out the filth, that is, to remove the idleness of your natural bent and to cast out the inactivity of your heart.

Source: HOMILIES ON GENESIS 12:5
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Proverbs 5:15-17
“Drink water out of your own cistern,” that is, examine your own resources, do not go to the springs belonging to others, but from your own streams gather for yourself the consolations of life. Do you have metal plates, clothing, beasts of burden, utensils of every kind? Sell them; permit all things to go except your [soul’s] liberty.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 12 (PSALM 14)
[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on Proverbs 5:15-17
Let us return to the sacred Scriptures and “drink water from our own cisterns and running water from our own wells.” Let us drink of the living water, “springing up unto life everlasting.” … Not visible rivers merely watering the earth with its thorns and trees, but enlightening souls.

Source: Catechetical Lecture 16:11
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Proverbs 5:15-17
Bear fruit for your own joy and delight. In yourself lies the sweetness of your charm, from you does it blossom, in you it sojourns, within you it rests, in your own self you must search for the jubilant quality of your conscience. For that reason he [Solomon] says, “Drink water out of your own cistern and the streams of your own well.”

Source: SIX DAYS OF CREATION 3:12.49
[AD 420] Jerome on Proverbs 5:15
[Daniel 2:22] "It is He who reveals deep and hidden things, and He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light." A man to whom God makes profound revelations and who can say, "O the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God!" (Romans 11:33), he it is who by the indwelling Spirit probes even into the deep things of God, and digs the deepest of wells in the depths of his soul. He is a man who has stirred up the whole earth, which is wont to conceal the deep waters, and he observes the command of God, saying: "Drink water from thy vessels and from the spring of thy wells" (Proverbs 5:15). As for the words which follow, "He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light," the darkness signifies ignorance, and the light signifies knowledge and learning. Therefore as wrong cannot hide God away, so right encompasses and surrounds Him. Or else we should interpret the words to mean all the dark mysteries and deep things (concerning God), according to what we read in Proverbs: "He understands also the parable and the dark saying." (Proverbs 1:6, LXX) This in turn is equivalent to what we read in the Psalms: "Dark waters in the clouds of the sky" (Psalm 18:11). For one who ascends to the heights and forsakes the things of earth, and like the birds themselves seeks after the most rarified atmosphere and everything ethereal, he becomes like a cloud to which the truth of God penetrates and which habitually showers rain upon the saints. Replete with a plenitude of knowledge, he contains in his breast many dark waters enveloped with deep darkness, a darkness which only Moses can penetrate and speak with God face to face (Exodus 33:11), of Whom the Scripture says: "He hath made darkness His hiding-place" (Psalm 18:11).

Source: St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TWO
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Proverbs 5:15-17
“Let the fountain of your water be your own and let no stranger share with you.” For all who do not love God are strangers, are antichrists. And although they enter the basilicas, they cannot be numbered among the sons of God. That fountain of life does not belong to them. Even an evil person can have baptism; even an evil person can have prophecy. We find that king Saul had prophecy; he was persecuting the holy David and was filled with the Spirit of prophecy and began to prophesy. Even an evil person can receive the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, for about such it has been said, “He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself.” Even an evil person can have the name of Christ, that is, even an evil person can be called Christian; and about these it has been said, “They profaned the name of their God.” Therefore, even an evil man can have all these mysteries. But he cannot have love and be evil. This, then, is the peculiar gift; it is the unique fountain. For drinking of this the Spirit of God encourages you; for drinking of himself the Spirit of God encourages you.

Source: TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 7:6
[AD 435] John Cassian on Proverbs 5:15-17
“Drink the waters from your own wells, fresh water from your own source.” … As the prophet Isaiah declares, “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters will never fail. And places emptied for ages will be built up in you. You will lift up the foundations laid by generation after generation. You will be called the builder of fences, the one who turns the pathways toward peace.” … And so it will happen that not only the whole thrust and thought of your heart but even all the wanderings and the straying of your thoughts will turn into a holy and unending meditation on the law of God.

Source: CONFERENCE 14:13
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:15
"Drink water from your own cistern," etc. Use your own wife's desire and cherish her with devoted services.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:16
"Let your fountains be dispersed abroad," etc. Give your son and daughter in marriage to others, and do this openly with many witnesses.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:16
"Let them be yours alone," etc. Retain in your own power alone with whom you join your children in marriage, and let neither fornicators nor prostitutes be partakers with your offspring.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on Proverbs 5:18
You wives, be subject to your own husbands, and have them in esteem, and serve them with fear and love, as holy Sarah honoured Abraham. For she could not endure to call him by his name, but called him lord, when she said, "My lord is old." [Genesis 18:12, 1 Peter 3:6] In like manner, you husbands, love your own wives as your own members, as partners in life, and fellow-helpers for the procreation of children. For says He, "Rejoice with the wife of your youth. [Proverbs 5:18] Let her conversation be to you as a loving hind, and a pleasant foal; let her alone guide you, and be with you at all times: for if you are every way encompassed with her friendship, you will be happy in her society." Love them therefore as your own members, as your very bodies [Ephesians 5:28]; for so it is written, "The Lord has testified between you and between the wife of your youth; and she is your partner, and another has not made her: and she is the remains of your spirit;" and, "Take heed to your spirit, and do not forsake the wife of your youth."

Source: Apostolic Constitutions (Book VI), Section 5, XXIX
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:18
"Let your fountain be blessed," etc. Maintain such temperance with the woman you married in your youth, even in old age, that by faithful chastity you may rightly gain a blessing in your offspring. "A loving doe, a graceful fawn." Let her always be your beloved spouse, who, like a doe that avoids serpents, shuns harlots and drives them away from her home. Let a son be born from her, and he himself be a very strict lover of chastity.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Proverbs 5:19
He shows also, by the mention of the creature (the hind), the purity of that pleasure; and by the roe he intimates the quick responsive affection of the wife. And whereas he knows many things to excite, he secures them against these, and puts upon them the indissoluble bond of affection, setting constancy before them. And as for the rest, wisdom, figuratively speaking, like a stag, can repel and crush the snaky doctrines of the heterodox. Let her therefore, says he, be with thee, like a roe, to keep all virtue fresh. And whereas a wife and wisdom are not in this respect the same, let her rather lead thee; for thus thou shalt conceive good thoughts.

Source: Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:19
"Let her breasts satisfy you at all times," etc. He does not teach that one should always be occupied with conjugal work, but advises not to marry another while the first wife is alive, or ever associate with a prostitute. Otherwise, what he says, "Drink water from your own cistern and flowing water from your own well," teaches that one should beware of heretics and attend to the custody of the Scriptures and reading. Keep the knowledge, he says, that you preach to others, and the watering of your speech pours out. "Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, and divide your waters in the streets." When you have kept it yourself, then also preach to others, and in the great multitude of listeners, dispense divine words according to each one's quality. "Let them be yours alone." We divide the waters in the streets and yet possess them alone, when we also broadly spread the preaching outwardly, and yet by it we do not aim to achieve human praises. "And let strangers not share with you." Unclean spirits become the teacher's partners if they corrupt his mind with pride while he preaches, or with heresy, or any other vice. But alone he possesses the waters when faithfully connected with the Church's members, he keeps himself free from the company of strangers. "Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth." Let your doctrine be, and whoever is born from it, in the blessing of the Church, and rejoice with her to whom you have been joined from youth, that is, from the first time of believing. "A loving doe, a graceful fawn; let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and always be enraptured with her love." The most beloved or most pleasing deer, as some manuscripts have it, is the holy Church, which is accustomed to hate and crush the serpent-like doctrine. The most pleasing young stag is the people, delightful by the variety of its virtues, and always kindled by the emulation of the same pure faith. We are intoxicated by its breasts, when we are instructed by the pages of both Testaments against the deceptions of heretics. To always delight in its peace and love is a great occasion for exercising virtues.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on Proverbs 5:20
When Scripture says, “Do not keep going steady with a foreign woman,” it is advising us to make use of secular education but not to settle there permanently. Each generation received beneficial gifts at the appropriate points, but they were in preparation for the Word of the Lord.

Source: STROMATEIS 1:5.29:9
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:20
Why are you led astray, my son, by a foreign woman? etc. And it should be understood of both the prostitute and heresy.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:21
The Lord looks upon the ways of man, etc. Let adulterers not think they are covered by the darkness of night against the wall, nor heretics that their schemes can be hidden, because the darkness will not be obscured from the Lord, and night will be illuminated like day.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on Proverbs 5:22
Clothed as you are in the rotten garments of your offenses and “held fast in the meshes of your own sins,” listen to the prophet’s voice saying, “Wash yourselves clean! Put away the misdeeds of your souls from before my eyes,” that the angelic choir may chant over you: “Happy [are] they whose faults are taken away, whose sins are covered.”

Source: Catechetical Lecture 1:1
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Proverbs 5:22
Let those who are bound fear, those who are loosed fear. Let those who are loosed be afraid of being bound; those who are bound pray to be loosed. “Each one is tied up in the threads of his own sins.” And apart from the church, nothing is loosed.

Source: SERMON 295:2
[AD 500] Salvian the Presbyter on Proverbs 5:22
I have previously said that we are punished by God because of our sins, and now I say that we are punished by ourselves. Both are true. We are, indeed, punished by God, but we act so that he has to punish us. Since we ourselves cause our own punishment, who doubts that we punish ourselves for our own crimes? For, whoever gives cause for his punishment punishes himself, according to the saying, “Each one is bound by the rope of his own sins.” Therefore, if evil people are bound by the ropes of their own sins, each and every sinner, doubtless, binds himself when he sins.

Source: THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 8.1
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:22
The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, etc. There is a difference between a sinner and a wicked person, because a sinner is called anyone who falls into either small or great crimes; but a wicked person is one who either never accepts the faith or, by the enormity of his crimes, becomes anathema from the faith he once received, like heretics or Catholics involved in public scandals, who are bound by the chains of their sins and perish with the incessant increase of their depravity. For one who makes a rope, always by twisting and entangling thread upon thread, increases it. Such is the strength of evil deeds, such are the books of heretics, in which they bind wrong with wrong, doing nothing other in writing than tightening the bonds.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Proverbs 5:23
“He will perish here with those who have no discipline; and he will be driven out of the abundance of his fatness.” One who becomes the prey of sin and lacks discipline will experience the same things. Indeed the one who consorts with murderers becomes a murderer. See what bitter kind of death he [Solomon] designates when he says that he [the wicked person] will die with such companions. It is indeed horrible to depart from life with a bad reputation. Depravity—what he [Solomon] calls “fatness”—multiplies so that the flesh is destroyed completely by the works of flesh, keeping one away from the very kind of life that could save him. He [the wicked person] perishes because of imprudence, not because of lustful desires: he had a legitimate means to satisfy his desire, that is, his wife. Therefore nobody is allowed to accuse nature, but only human intemperance which is not proper to nature.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, FRAGMENT 5:23
[AD 735] Bede on Proverbs 5:23
He will die because he lacked discipline, etc. Because he had disputed much about adulterers or heretics, as is his custom, he shows in the close of his narrative what the end of such people is; that is, they tend towards eternal death, who have hated the discipline of life. He calls it the multitude of folly, when heretics consider themselves wiser than the holy Fathers, or when the wicked, doing the works of darkness, either think the Lord does not see these things or believe they can easily endure His wrath.

Source: Commentary on Proverbs