Proverbs 5
1 My son! Give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,
My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
2 To observe thoughtfulness, And your lips keep knowledge.
that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth [is] smoother than oil,
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
4 And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
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 The path of life—lest you ponder, Her paths have moved—you do not know.
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
7 And now, you sons, listen to me, And do not turn from sayings of my mouth.
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from off her, And do not come near to the opening of her house,
Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
9 Lest you give your splendor to others, And your years to the fierce,
lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
10 Lest strangers be filled [with] your power, And your labors in the house of a stranger,
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.
11 And you have howled in your latter end, In the consumption of your flesh and your food,
You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And have said, “How I have hated instruction, And my heart has despised reproof,
and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
13 And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, And have not inclined my ear to my teachers.
I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
14 As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a congregation.”
I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.”
15 Drink waters out of your own cistern, Even flowing ones out of your own well.
Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
16 Let your fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places streams of waters.
Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be to you for yourself, And not to strangers with you.
Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of your youth,
Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 A doe of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy you at all times, Magnify yourself in her love 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 do you magnify yourself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
21 For the ways of each are before the eyes of YHWH, And He is pondering all his paths.
For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
22 His own iniquities capture the wicked, And he is holden with the ropes of his sin.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
23 He dies without instruction, And magnifies himself in the abundance of his folly!
He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
