Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend to my wisdom. Incline thine ear to my understanding,
My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.
2 that thou may preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
3 For the lips of an interloping woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.
For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell. (Sheol h7585)
6 so that she does not find the level path of life. Her ways are unstable, and she does not know.
They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
7 Now therefore, ye sons, hearken to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house,
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
9 lest thou give thine honor to others, and thy years to the cruel,
Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
10 lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labors be in the house of an alien,
Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,
11 and thou mourn at thy latter end when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:
12 and say, How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the assembly and congregation.
I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
16 Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and streams of water in the streets?
Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
17 Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee.
Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of thy youth:
Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
19 a loving hind and a pleasant doe. Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and be thou ravished always with her love.
Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; he thou delighted continually with her love.
20 For why should thou, my son, be ravished with an interloping woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he makes level all his paths.
The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
22 His own iniquities shall take a wicked man, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin.
His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction. And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
