Proverbs 5
1 My sonne, hearken vnto my wisedome, and incline thine eare vnto my knowledge.
My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence,
2 That thou maiest regarde counsell, and thy lippes obserue knowledge.
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.
3 For the lippes of a strange woman drop as an honie combe, and her mouth is more soft then oyle.
For the lips of a loose woman are like a dripping honeycomb, and her voice is smoother than oil.
4 But the end of her is bitter as wormewood, and sharpe as a two edged sworde.
But in the end, she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet descend into death, and her steps reach even to Hell. (Sheol h7585)
6 She weigheth not the way of life: her paths are moueable: thou canst not knowe them.
They do not walk along the path of life; her steps are wandering and untraceable.
7 Heare yee me nowe therefore, O children, and depart not from the wordes of my mouth.
Therefore, my son, listen to me now, and do not withdraw from the words of my mouth.
8 Keepe thy way farre from her, and come not neere the doore of her house,
Make your way at a distance from her, and do not approach the doors of her house.
9 Least thou giue thine honor vnto others, and thy yeeres to the cruell:
Do not give your honor to foreigners, and your years to the cruel.
10 Least the stranger should be silled with thy strength, and thy labours bee in the house of a stranger,
Otherwise, outsiders may be filled with your strength, and your labors may be in a foreign house,
11 And thou mourne at thine end, (when thou hast consumed thy flesh and thy bodie)
and you may mourn in the end, when you will have consumed your flesh and your body. And so you may say:
12 And say, How haue I hated instruction, and mine heart despised correction!
“Why have I detested discipline, and why has my heart not been quieted by correction?
13 And haue not obeied the voyce of them that taught mee, nor enclined mine eare to them that instructed me!
And why have I not listened to the voice of those who guided me? And why has my ear not inclined to my teachers?
14 I was almost brought into all euil in ye mids of the Congregation and assemblie.
I have almost been with all evil in the midst of the church and of the assembly.”
15 Drinke the water of thy cisterne, and of the riuers out of the middes of thine owne well.
Drink water from your own cistern and from the springs of your own well.
16 Let thy fountaines flow foorth, and the riuers of waters in the streetes.
Let your fountains be diverted far and wide, and divide your waters in the streets.
17 But let them bee thine, euen thine onely, and not the strangers with thee.
Hold them for yourself alone, and do not let strangers be partakers with you.
18 Let thy fountaine be blessed, and reioyce with the wife of thy youth.
Let your spring be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth:
19 Let her be as the louing hinde and pleasant roe: let her brests satisfie thee at all times, and delite in her loue continually.
a beloved doe and most pleasing fawn. Let her breasts inebriate you at all times. Be delighted continually by her love.
20 For why shouldest thou delite, my sonne, in a strange woman, or embrace the bosome of a stranger?
Why are you seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and why are you kept warm by the bosom of another?
21 For the waies of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his pathes.
The Lord beholds the ways of man, and he considers all his steps.
22 His owne iniquities shall take the wicked himselfe, and he shall be holden with the cordes of his owne sinne.
His own iniquities take hold of the impious, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins.
23 Hee shall die for fault of instruction, and shall goe astray through his great follie.
He shall die, for he has not held to discipline. And by the multitude of his foolishness, he shall be deceived.
