Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
My son, attend to my wisdom. And bow thine ear to my understanding;
2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
That thou mayest keep discretion, And that thy lips may preserve knowledge!
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
Truly, the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; Her steps lay hold of the under-world. (Sheol h7585)
6 She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
That she may not ponder the way of life, Her paths waver when she heedeth it not.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
Hear me now, therefore, O children! And turn not away from the words of my mouth!
8 Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
Remove thy way far from her. And come not nigh the door of her house:
9 lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
Lest thou give thy bloom to others, And thy years to a cruel one;
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, And thine earnings be in the house of an alien;
11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
And lest thou mourn in thy latter end. When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
And say, “How have I hated instruction! And how hath my heart despised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.
I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to my instructors;
14 I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
I have well-nigh fallen into utter misery; In the midst of the congregation and the assembly.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
Drink water out of thine own cistern. And running water out of thine own well:
16 Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
So shall thy fountains overflow in the streets, In the wide streets, as streams of water;
17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
They shall belong to thee alone, And not to strangers with thee;
18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
And thy fountain shall be blessed, Yea, thou shalt have joy in the wife of thy youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn— may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
A lovely hind, a graceful doe, Her breasts shall satisfy thee at all times, And thou shalt be always ravished with her love.
20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Why, then, my son, wilt thou be ravished with a wanton, And embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And he weigheth well all his paths.
22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked; Yea, he shall be held fast by the cords of his own sins.
23 He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
He shall die for want of instruction; Yea, through the greatness of his folly he shall stagger.
