Proverbs 5
1 My son! Give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,
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 To observe thoughtfulness, And your lips 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 the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth [is] smoother than oil,
What an immoral woman says [to you may be] as sweet as honey, and sound smoother than olive oil [feels on your skin],
4 And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
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 The path of life—lest you ponder, Her paths have moved—you do not know.
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, you sons, listen to me, And do not turn from 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 Keep your way far from off her, And do not come near to the opening of her house,
Run away from immoral women! Do not go near the doors of their houses!
9 Lest you give your splendor to others, And your years to the fierce,
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 Lest strangers be filled [with] your power, And your labors in the house of a stranger,
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 And you have howled in your latter end, In the consumption of your flesh and your food,
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 have said, “How I have hated instruction, And my heart has despised reproof,
Then you will say, “I hated it [when people tried to] correct me. I despised [people when they] reproved/rebuked me.
13 And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, And have not inclined my ear to my teachers.
I did not heed what my teachers said! I paid no attention to those who [tried to] teach me [something about my behavior].
14 As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a congregation.”
[Now] I am almost ruined, and I will be disgraced in public gatherings.”
15 Drink waters out of your own cistern, Even flowing ones out of your 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 Let your fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places streams of waters.
Like you would not waste good water by pouring it into the street, [you should not have sex with other women]. [MET, EUP]
17 Let them be to you for yourself, And not to strangers with you.
Enjoy [having sex] only with your wife; do not [have sex with] other women.
18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of your 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 A doe of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy you at all times, Magnify yourself in her love 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 do you magnify yourself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange 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 the ways of each are before the eyes of YHWH, And He is pondering all his paths.
[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 capture the wicked, And he is holden with the ropes of his sin.
Evil men’s sinful desires hold them fast; their sins are [like] ropes that bind them.
23 He dies without instruction, And magnifies himself in the abundance of his folly!
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.
