Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; to my understanding incline thou thy ear:
My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
2 That thou mayest observe discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve 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 an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, it is sharp as a two-edged sword.
but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
6 So that she cannot balance the path of life; her tracks are unsteady, and she knoweth it not.
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
7 And now, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the sayings of my mouth.
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove far from her thy way, and come not nigh to the door of her house;
Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
9 That thou mayest not give up unto others thy vigor, and thy years unto the cruel;
lest you give your honour to others, and your years to the cruel one;
10 That strangers may not satisfy themselves with thy strength, and with thy exertions, in the house of an alien:
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labours enrich another man’s house.
11 While thou moanest at thy end, when thy flesh and thy body are coming to their end,
You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And thou sayest, How have I hated correction, and how hath my heart rejected reproof;
and say, “How I have 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;
I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who 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 have come to the brink of utter ruin, amongst the gathered assembly.”
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well.
Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
16 So will thy springs overflow abroad; and in the open streets will be thy rivulets of water;
Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
17 They will be thy own only, and not those of strangers with thee.
Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
18 Thy fountain will be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth, —
Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your 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.
A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated 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 should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
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 LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
22 His own iniquities will truly catch the wicked, and with the cords of his sin will he be held firmly.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
23 He will indeed die for want of correction; and through the abundance of his folly will he sink into error.
He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
