Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
My son, give attention to my wisdom; let your ear be turned to my teaching:
2 that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
So that you may be ruled by a wise purpose, and your lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
For honey is dropping from the lips of the strange woman, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword;
Her feet go down to death, and her steps to the underworld; (Sheol h7585)
6 She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.
She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.
7 Now therefore, son, listen to me. Do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Give ear to me then, my sons, and do not put away my words from you.
8 Remove your way far from her. Do not come near the door of her house,
Go far away from her, do not come near the door of her house;
9 lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the merciless;
For fear that you may give your honour to others, and your wealth to strange men:
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.
And strange men may be full of your wealth, and the fruit of your work go to the house of others;
11 You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;
12 and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;
13 neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me.
I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."
I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.
15 Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.
17 Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
Let them be for yourself only, not for other men with you.
18 Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.
19 A loving doe and a graceful deer—let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
As a loving hind and a gentle doe, let her breasts ever give you rapture; let your passion at all times be moved by her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD. He examines all his paths.
For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
The evil-doer will be taken in the net of his crimes, and prisoned in the cords of his sin.
23 He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
He will come to his end for need of teaching; he is so foolish that he will go wandering from the right way.
