Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen carefully as I explain what makes sense,
2 that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
so you can make good decisions and protect knowledge with your lips.
3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
For the lips of an immoral woman may taste as sweet as honey, the kisses of her mouth may be as smooth as oil,
4 But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
but in the end what you get from her is the bitterness of wormwood and the sharp pain of being cut with a two-edged sword.
She leads you down to death; she takes you down to the grave. (Sheol h7585)
6 She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.
She doesn't follow the path that leads to life—she wanders away and doesn't even know she's lost.
7 Now therefore, son, listen to me. Do not depart from the words of my mouth.
Now, my son, listen to me; don't reject what I have taught you.
8 Remove your way far from her. Do not come near the door of her house,
Stay far away from her! Don't go near the door of her house!
9 lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the merciless;
Otherwise you'll surrender your honor to others, and your character to cruel people.
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.
Strangers will spend your wealth; everything you've worked for will go to someone else.
11 You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
When you come to the end of your life you'll moan in pain as disease destroys your body.
12 and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
You'll say, “How I used to hate discipline, and my mind rebelled against being corrected!
13 neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me.
I didn't listen to what my teacher said. I didn't pay attention to my instructors.
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."
Now I'm on the verge of being completely disgraced before everyone in the community.”
15 Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
Why should your springs be spilled outside, your streams of water poured out in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
Keep them for yourselves alone. They're not for you to share with strangers.
18 Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
May your spring of water be blessed, and may you enjoy the wife you married when you were young.
19 A loving doe and a graceful deer—let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
May she be to you a loving deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts always be intoxicating to you; may you be drunk on her love forever.
20 For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
Why, my son, become intoxicated with an immoral woman? Why embrace the breasts of a woman who acts like a prostitute?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah. He examines all his paths.
For the Lord sees everything people do, the Lord investigates everywhere they go.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
The wicked are trapped by their evil actions; the cords of their sins tie them up.
23 He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
They will die because they lack self-control, lost because of their great stupidity.
