Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.
My son! Give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,
2 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
To observe thoughtfulness, And your lips keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat 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.
And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
Her feet are going down to death, Her steps take hold of Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
6 They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
The path of life—lest you ponder, Her paths have moved—you do not know.
7 Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
And now, you sons, listen to me, And do not turn from sayings of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
Keep your way far from off her, And do not come near to the opening of her house,
9 Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
Lest you give your splendor to others, And your years to the fierce,
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,
Lest strangers be filled [with] your power, And your labors in the house of a stranger,
11 And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:
And you have howled in your latter end, In the consumption of your flesh and your food,
12 Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
And have said, “How I have hated instruction, And my heart has despised reproof,
13 And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, And have not inclined my ear to my teachers.
14 I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a congregation.”
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
Drink waters out of your own cistern, Even flowing ones out of your own well.
16 Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
Let your fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places streams of waters.
17 Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
Let them be to you for yourself, And not to strangers with you.
18 Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of your youth,
19 Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; he thou delighted continually with her love.
A doe of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy you at all times, Magnify yourself in her love continually.
20 Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
And why do you magnify yourself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
21 The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
For the ways of each are before the eyes of YHWH, And He is pondering all his paths.
22 His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
His own iniquities capture the wicked, And he is holden with the ropes of his sin.
23 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
He dies without instruction, And magnifies himself in the abundance of his folly!
