Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen carefully as I explain what makes sense,
[My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply your ear to my words;
2 so you can make good decisions and protect knowledge with your lips.
that you may keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives you a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
3 For the lips of an immoral woman may taste as sweet as honey, the kisses of her mouth may be as smooth as oil,
for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases your palate:
4 but in the end what you get from her is the bitterness of wormwood and the sharp pain of being cut with a two-edged sword.
but afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
For the feet of folly lead those who deal with her down to the grave with death; and her steps are not established. (Sheol h7585)
6 She doesn't follow the path that leads to life—she wanders away and doesn't even know she's lost.
For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
7 Now, my son, listen to me; don't reject what I have taught you.
Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
8 Stay far away from her! Don't go near the door of her house!
Remove your way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
9 Otherwise you'll surrender your honor to others, and your character to cruel people.
lest you give away your life to others, and your substance to the merciless:
10 Strangers will spend your wealth; everything you've worked for will go to someone else.
lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your labors come into the houses of strangers;
11 When you come to the end of your life you'll moan in pain as disease destroys your body.
And you repent at last, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
12 You'll say, “How I used to hate discipline, and my mind rebelled against being corrected!
and you shall say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
13 I didn't listen to what my teacher said. I didn't pay attention to my instructors.
I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear.
14 Now I'm on the verge of being completely disgraced before everyone in the community.”
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
Drink waters out of your own vessels, and out of your own springing wells.
16 Why should your springs be spilled outside, your streams of water poured out in the streets?
Let not waters out of your fountain be spilt by you, but let your waters go into your streets.
17 Keep them for yourselves alone. They're not for you to share with strangers.
Let them be only your own, and let no stranger partake with you.
18 May your spring of water be blessed, and may you enjoy the wife you married when you were young.
Let your fountain of water be [truly] your own; and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 May she be to you a loving deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts always be intoxicating to you; may you be drunk on her love forever.
Let [your] loving hart and your graceful colt company with you, and let her be considered your own, and be with you at all times; for ravished with her love you shall be greatly increased.
20 Why, my son, become intoxicated with an immoral woman? Why embrace the breasts of a woman who acts like a prostitute?
Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold yourself in the arms of a woman not your own.
21 For the Lord sees everything people do, the Lord investigates everywhere they go.
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths.
22 The wicked are trapped by their evil actions; the cords of their sins tie them up.
Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
23 They will die because they lack self-control, lost because of their great stupidity.
Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.
