Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend to my wisdom. Incline thine ear to my understanding,
My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow your ear to my understanding:
2 that thou may preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
That you may regard discretion, and that your lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of an interloping woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth 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, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. (Sheol h7585)
6 so that she does not find the level path of life. Her ways are unstable, and she does not know.
Lest you should ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that you can not know them.
7 Now therefore, ye sons, hearken to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Hear me now therefore, O all of you children, 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 your way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 lest thou give thine honor to others, and thy years to the cruel,
Lest you give your honour unto others, and your years unto 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 your wealth; and your labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 and thou mourn at thy latter end when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And you mourn at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 and say, How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
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 assembly and congregation.
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.
Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well.
16 Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and streams of water in the streets?
Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17 Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee.
Let them be only your own, and not strangers' with you.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of thy youth:
Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your 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 as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and be you ravished always with her love.
20 For why should thou, my son, be ravished with an interloping woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
And why will you, 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 Jehovah, and he makes level all his paths.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his activities.
22 His own iniquities shall take a wicked man, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sins.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction. And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
