< Proverbs 5 >
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; to my understanding incline thou thy ear:
My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
2 That thou mayest observe discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
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 smoother than oil [is] her mouth,
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, it is sharp as a two-edged sword.
And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
5 Her feet go down to death, her steps take firm hold on the nether world: (Sheol )
Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of. (Sheol )
6 So that she cannot balance the path of life; her tracks are unsteady, and she knoweth it not.
The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
7 And now, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the sayings of my mouth.
And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
8 Remove far from her thy way, and come not nigh to the door of her house;
Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,
9 That thou mayest not give up unto others thy vigor, and thy years unto the cruel;
Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
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 power, And thy labours 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 hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
12 And thou sayest, How have I hated correction, and how hath my heart rejected reproof;
And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
13 While I hearkened not to the voice of my instructors, and to my teachers I inclined not my ear;
And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
14 But little more was wanting, and I had been in all [kinds of] unhappiness 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 water out of thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones 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 scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
17 They will be thy own only, and not those of strangers with thee.
Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
18 Thy fountain will be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth, —
Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of 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.
A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of an alien woman?
And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
21 For before the eyes of the Lord are the ways of man, and all his tracks doth he weigh in the balance.
For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
22 His own iniquities will truly catch the wicked, and with the cords of his sin will he be held firmly.
His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
23 He will indeed die for want of correction; and through the abundance of his folly will he sink into error.
He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!