Proverbs 5
1 My son, give attention to my wisdom; let your ear be turned to my teaching:
My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding;
2 So that you may be ruled by a wise purpose, and your lips may keep knowledge.
That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For honey is dropping from the lips of the strange woman, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and 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 the nether-world; (Sheol h7585)
6 She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.
Lest she should walk the even path of life, her ways wander, but she knoweth it not.
7 Give ear to me then, my sons, and do not put away my words from you.
Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Go far away from her, do not come near the door of her house;
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house;
9 For fear that you may give your honour to others, and your wealth to strange men:
Lest thou give thy vigour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel;
10 And strange men may be full of your wealth, and the fruit of your work go to the house of others;
Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in the house of an alien;
11 And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;
And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;
And say: 'How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!
Neither have I hearkened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.
I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.'
15 Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.
Let thy springs be dispersed abroad, and courses of water in the streets.
17 Let them be for yourself only, not for other men with you.
Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18 Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.
Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.
19 As a loving hind and a gentle doe, let her breasts ever give you rapture; let your passion at all times be moved by her love.
A lovely hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; with her love be thou ravished always.
20 Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?
Why then wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of an alien?
21 For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He maketh even all his paths.
22 The evil-doer will be taken in the net of his crimes, and prisoned in the cords of his sin.
His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
23 He will come to his end for need of teaching; he is so foolish that he will go wandering from the right way.
He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel.
