Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; to my understanding incline thou thy ear:
My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest observe discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For as of fine honey drop the lips of an adulterous woman, and smoother than oil is her palate;
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, it is sharp as a two-edged sword.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. (Sheol h7585)
6 So that she cannot balance the path of life; her tracks are unsteady, and she knoweth it not.
Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
7 And now, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the sayings of my mouth.
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove far from her thy way, and come not nigh to the door of her house;
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 That thou mayest not give up unto others thy vigor, and thy years unto the cruel;
Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 That strangers may not satisfy themselves with thy strength, and with thy exertions, in the house of an alien:
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 While thou moanest at thy end, when thy flesh and thy body are coming to their end,
And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And thou sayest, How have I hated correction, and how hath my heart rejected reproof;
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 While I hearkened not to the voice of my instructors, and to my teachers I inclined not my ear;
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 But little more was wanting, and I had been in all [kinds of] unhappiness in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 So will thy springs overflow abroad; and in the open streets will be thy rivulets of water;
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17 They will be thy own only, and not those of strangers with thee.
Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18 Thy fountain will be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth, —
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 The lovely gazelle and the graceful chamois: let her bosom satisfy thee abundantly at all times; with her love be thou ravished continually.
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.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of an alien woman?
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For before the eyes of the Lord are the ways of man, and all his tracks doth he weigh in the balance.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of YHWH, and he pondereth all his goings.
22 His own iniquities will truly catch the wicked, and with the cords of his sin will he be held firmly.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23 He will indeed die for want of correction; and through the abundance of his folly will he sink into error.
He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
