Proverbs 5
1 MY son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
My son, to my wisdom, attend, and, to mine understanding, incline thou thine ear:
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
That thou mayest preserve discretion, —and, as for knowledge, that thy lips may guard it.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
For, with sweet droppings, drip the lips of her that is a stranger, and, smoother than oil, is her mouth;
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
But, the latter end of her, is bitter as wormwood, sharp, as a two-edged sword!
Her feet, are going down to death, —on hades, will her steps take firm hold. (Sheol h7585)
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Lest, the path of life, she should ponder, her tracks have wandered she knoweth not [whither].
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Now, therefore, ye sons, hearken unto me, and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
Keep far from her thy way, and do not go near the opening of her house:
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
Lest thou give, to other men, thy vigour, and thy years, to him that is cruel:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
Lest strange men, be well fed, by thy strength, and, thy toils, be in the house of the alien.
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
So shalt thou grieve in thy latter end, in the failing of thy flesh and of thy healthy condition;
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
And thou shalt say—How I hated correction! and, reproof, my heart disdained;
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
Neither hearkened I to the voice of my teachers, nor, to my instructors, inclined I mine ear:
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
Soon was I in all evil, in the midst of convocation and assembly.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Drink thou water out of thine own cistern, and flowing streams out of the midst of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
Let not thy fountains, flow over, abroad, in the streets, dividings of waters:
17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.
Let them be for thyself, alone, and not for strangers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Let thy well-spring be blessed, —and get thy joy from the wife of thy youth: —
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
A loving hind! a graceful doe! let, her bosom, content thee at all times, and, in her love, mayst thou stray evermore.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Wherefore, then, shouldst thou stray, my son, with a strange woman? or embrace the bosom of a woman unknown?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.
For, before the eyes of Yahweh, are the ways of a man, —and, all his tracks, doth he consider:
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
His own iniquities, shall entrap him with the lawless, and, by the cords of his own sin, shall he be seized.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
He, shall die, for lack of discipline, and, by the abounding of his perversity, shall he be lost.
