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The Path to Sexual Immorality

Proverbs 5:4 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
⁴but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood: What initially seemed so sweet and appealing will only end as bitter as (לַעֲנָה laanah) wormwood, a leafy plant that yields a bitter-tasting extract. In Scripture, among other things, wormwood is compared to the aftereffects of immorality.[1]

Sharp as a two-edged sword: This encounter has the possibility of making one ill, in severe pain, and even leading to death like a two-edged sword. This brief encounter of sexual immorality will feel like you are being slashed with a two-edged sword, which at the very minimum will cause you emotional wounds and pain.

The horrors of conscience are bitter wormwood. Sexual immorality is but a momentary pleasure, immediate gratification. However, afterward, the effects are as bitter (painful, heartbreaking) as wormwood and as sharp as a two-edged sword. The conscience can torment the person for a very long time, especially if the act has consequences that run deeper than a troubled conscience, such as ending in a sexually transmitted disease, or worse still, an unexpected pregnancy. Then, there is the emotional pain of all that is involved. One sexual escapade that lasts one night can result in a lifetime of pain for many people. We need to avoid entering the path that can lead to sexual immorality.

[1] Wormwood is also compared to the bitter experience that came upon Judah and Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. (Jer. 9:15; 23:15; Lam. 3:15, 19) It also represents the suffering as the result of injustice and unrighteousness (Am 5:7; 6:12) and is used with reference to apostates. (Deut. 29:18) At Revelation 8:11, wormwood indicates a bitter and poisonous substance, also called absinthe.