Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; to my understanding incline thou thy ear:
My son, listen carefully to some [more] wise things that I will tell you. Listen well to what I am going to teach you.
2 That thou mayest observe discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
If you do that, you will be able to choose wisely [what to do], and you will know [the right things] to say [MTY].
3 For as of fine honey drop the lips of an adulterous woman, and smoother than oil is her palate;
What an immoral woman says [to you may be] as sweet as honey, and sound smoother than olive oil [feels on your skin],
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, it is sharp as a two-edged sword.
but the result [of being with her] will be bitter like gall and [injure you as badly], like being cut with a sharp two-edged sword.
If you go where she goes [MTY], you will go down to where the dead people are. Her steps will lead you straight to the grave. (Sheol h7585)
6 So that she cannot balance the path of life; her tracks are unsteady, and she knoweth it not.
She is not concerned about the roads that lead to a [long] life. She walks [down] a crooked path, and she does not realize [that she is on the wrong road].
7 And now, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the sayings of my mouth.
So now, my sons, listen to me. (Never turn aside from/always remember) [LIT] what I am about to tell you.
8 Remove far from her thy way, and come not nigh to the door of her house;
Run away from immoral women! Do not go near the doors of their houses!
9 That thou mayest not give up unto others thy vigor, and thy years unto the cruel;
If you enter the home of one of them, you will lose your (self-respect/good reputation) and [that woman’s husband] will not act mercifully toward you; he will [kill you and] take everything that you have acquired during your life!
10 That strangers may not satisfy themselves with thy strength, and with thy exertions, in the house of an alien:
Foreigners will take your money, and [all] the good things that you have worked for will (end up in their hands/become their possessions).
11 While thou moanest at thy end, when thy flesh and thy body are coming to their end,
And when you are about to die, you will groan [with severe pain] because diseases [that you have gotten from being immoral] will be destroying your body.
12 And thou sayest, How have I hated correction, and how hath my heart rejected reproof;
Then you will say, “I hated it [when people tried to] correct me. I despised [people when they] reproved/rebuked me.
13 While I hearkened not to the voice of my instructors, and to my teachers I inclined not my ear;
I did not heed what my teachers said! I paid no attention to those who [tried to] teach me [something about my behavior].
14 But little more was wanting, and I had been in all [kinds of] unhappiness in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
[Now] I am almost ruined, and I will be disgraced in public gatherings.”
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well.
Like a man is refreshed by drinking water from his own well [MET], enjoy [having sex] [EUP] only with your own wife.
16 So will thy springs overflow abroad; and in the open streets will be thy rivulets of water;
Like you would not waste good water by pouring it into the street, [you should not have sex with other women]. [MET, EUP]
17 They will be thy own only, and not those of strangers with thee.
Enjoy [having sex] only with your wife; do not [have sex with] other women.
18 Thy fountain will be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth, —
Let your wife be a source of great pleasure to you. (Be happy/[Enjoy sex]) with the woman whom you married when you were both young.
19 The lovely gazelle and the graceful chamois: let her bosom satisfy thee abundantly at all times; with her love be thou ravished continually.
She is as pretty and graceful [as] a young female deer. Allow her breasts to always satisfy you. Allow her lovemaking to excite you.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of an alien woman?
My son, do not be [RHQ] captivated/charmed by an immoral woman! Do not fondle the breasts of another man’s wife!
21 For before the eyes of the Lord are the ways of man, and all his tracks doth he weigh in the balance.
[I say that] because Yahweh sees clearly everything that we do; he knows [where we are going on] the roads that we walk on.
22 His own iniquities will truly catch the wicked, and with the cords of his sin will he be held firmly.
Evil men’s sinful desires hold them fast; their sins are [like] ropes that bind them.
23 He will indeed die for want of correction; and through the abundance of his folly will he sink into error.
Evil men [will] die because they are unable to say “No” to their desires; they [will] (go astray/be lost) because of the foolish things that they do.
