Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; to my understanding incline thou thy ear:
My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest observe discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
That thou mayest preserve 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 honey, 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 latter end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on Sheol; (Sheol h7585)
6 So that she cannot balance the path of life; her tracks are unsteady, and she knoweth it not.
So that she findeth not the level path of life: her ways are unstable [and] she knoweth [it] not.
7 And now, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the sayings of my mouth.
Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me, 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 strength; and thy labours [be] in the house of an alien;
11 While thou moanest at thy end, when thy flesh and thy body are coming to their end,
And thou mourn at thy latter end, 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;
Neither have I 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 well nigh 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;
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and rivers of water in the streets?
17 They will be thy own only, and not those of strangers with thee.
Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee.
18 Thy fountain will be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth, —
Let thy fountain be blessed; and rejoice in 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.
[As] a loving hind and a pleasant doe, 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?
For why shouldest 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 the LORD, and he maketh level all his paths.
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, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
23 He will indeed die for want of correction; and through the abundance of his folly will he sink into error.
He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
