Proverbs 5
1 [My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply your ear to my words;
My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
2 that you may keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives you a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
3 for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases your palate:
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil [is] her mouth,
4 but afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
5 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)
Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of. (Sheol h7585)
6 For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
7 Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
8 Remove your way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,
9 lest you give away your life to others, and your substance to the merciless:
Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
10 lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your labors come into the houses of strangers;
Lest strangers be filled [with] thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,
11 And you repent at last, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
12 and you shall say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
13 I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear.
And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.
15 Drink waters out of your own vessels, and out of your own springing wells.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.
16 Let not waters out of your fountain be spilt by you, but let your waters go into your streets.
Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
17 Let them be only your own, and let no stranger partake with you.
Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
18 Let your fountain of water be [truly] your own; and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
19 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.
A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.
20 Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold yourself in the arms of a woman not your own.
And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths.
For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
22 Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
23 Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.
He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
