Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ears to my understanding,
2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
so you may learn about discretion and your lips may protect knowledge.
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
For the lips of an adulteress drip with honey and her mouth is smoother than oil,
4 in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, cutting like a sharp sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps go all the way to Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
6 She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
She gives no thought to the path of life. Her footsteps wander; she does not know where she is going.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
Now, my sons, listen to me; do not turn away from listening to the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
Keep your path far away from her and do not come near the door of her house.
9 lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
In that way you will not give away your honor to others or years of your life to a cruel person;
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
strangers will not feast on your wealth; what you have worked for will not go into the house of strangers.
11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body waste away.
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
You will say, “How I hated instruction and my heart despised correction!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.
I would not obey my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
I was almost completely ruined in the midst of the assembly, among the gathering of the people.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
Drink water from your own cistern and drink running water from your own well.
16 Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
Should your springs overflow everywhere and your streams of water flow in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
Let them be for yourself alone and not for strangers with you.
18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
May your fountain be blessed and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn— may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
for she is a loving deer and a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be continually intoxicated by her love.
20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
For why should you, my son, be captivated by an adulteress; why should you embrace the breasts of an immoral woman?
21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
Yahweh sees everything a person does and watches all the paths he takes.
22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
A wicked person will be seized by his own iniquities; the cords of his sin will hold him tight.
23 He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
He will die because he lacks instruction; he is led astray by his great foolishness.
