Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence,
My son, attend to my wisdom. And bow thine ear to my understanding;
2 so that you may guard your thinking, and so that your lips may preserve discipline. Do not pay attention to the deceit of a woman.
That thou mayest keep discretion, And that thy lips may preserve knowledge!
3 For the lips of a loose woman are like a dripping honeycomb, and her voice is smoother than oil.
Truly, the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 But in the end, she is as bitter as wormwood, and as 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 lay hold of the under-world. (Sheol h7585)
6 They do not walk along the path of life; her steps are wandering and untraceable.
That she may not ponder the way of life, Her paths waver when she heedeth it not.
7 Therefore, my son, listen to me now, and do not withdraw from the words of my mouth.
Hear me now, therefore, O children! And turn not away from the words of my mouth!
8 Make your way at a distance from her, and do not approach the doors of her house.
Remove thy way far from her. And come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Do not give your honor to foreigners, and your years to the cruel.
Lest thou give thy bloom to others, And thy years to a cruel one;
10 Otherwise, outsiders may be filled with your strength, and your labors may be in a foreign house,
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, And thine earnings be in the house of an alien;
11 and you may mourn in the end, when you will have consumed your flesh and your body. And so you may say:
And lest thou mourn in thy latter end. When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 “Why have I detested discipline, and why has my heart not been quieted by correction?
And say, “How have I hated instruction! And how hath my heart despised reproof!
13 And why have I not listened to the voice of those who guided me? And why has my ear not inclined to my teachers?
I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to my instructors;
14 I have almost been with all evil in the midst of the church and of the 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 from the springs of your own well.
Drink water out of thine own cistern. And running water out of thine own well:
16 Let your fountains be diverted far and wide, and divide your waters in the streets.
So shall thy fountains overflow in the streets, In the wide streets, as streams of water;
17 Hold them for yourself alone, and do not let strangers be partakers with you.
They shall belong to thee alone, And not to strangers with thee;
18 Let your spring be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth:
And thy fountain shall be blessed, Yea, thou shalt have joy in the wife of thy youth.
19 a beloved doe and most pleasing fawn. Let her breasts inebriate you at all times. Be delighted continually by her love.
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 are you seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and why are you kept warm by the bosom of another?
Why, then, my son, wilt thou be ravished with a wanton, And embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 The Lord beholds the ways of man, and he considers all his steps.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And he weigheth well all his paths.
22 His own iniquities take hold of the impious, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins.
His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked; Yea, he shall be held fast by the cords of his own sins.
23 He shall die, for he has not held to discipline. And by the multitude of his foolishness, he shall be deceived.
He shall die for want of instruction; Yea, through the greatness of his folly he shall stagger.
