Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding:
[My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply your ear to my words;
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
that you may keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives you a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases your palate:
4 But her latter end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
but afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
For the feet of folly lead those who deal with her down to the grave with death; and her steps are not established. (Sheol h7585)
6 So that she findeth not the level path of life: her ways are unstable [and] she knoweth [it] not.
For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
7 Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
Remove your way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
lest you give away your life to others, and your substance to the merciless:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength; and thy labours [be] in the house of an alien;
lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your labours come into the houses of strangers;
11 And thou mourn at thy latter end, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And you repent at last, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
and you shall say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear.
14 I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Drink waters out of your own vessels, and out of your own springing wells.
16 Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and rivers of water in the streets?
Let not waters out of your fountain be spilt by you, but let your waters go into your streets.
17 Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee.
Let them be only your own, and let no stranger partake with you.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed; and rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
Let your fountain of water be [truly] your own; and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 [As] a loving hind and a pleasant doe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
Let [your] loving hart and your graceful colt company with you, and let her be considered your own, and be with you at all times; for ravished with her love you shall be greatly increased.
20 For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold yourself in the arms of a woman not your own.
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he maketh level all his paths.
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.
