Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding:
My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence,
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
so that you may guard your thinking, and so that your lips may preserve discipline. Do not pay attention to the deceit of a woman.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
For the lips of a loose woman are like a dripping honeycomb, and her voice is smoother than oil.
4 But her latter end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
But in the end, she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet descend into death, and her steps reach even to Hell. (Sheol h7585)
6 So that she findeth not the level path of life: her ways are unstable [and] she knoweth [it] not.
They do not walk along the path of life; her steps are wandering and untraceable.
7 Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Therefore, my son, listen to me now, and do not withdraw from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
Make your way at a distance from her, and do not approach the doors of her house.
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
Do not give your honor to foreigners, and your years to the cruel.
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength; and thy labours [be] in the house of an alien;
Otherwise, outsiders may be filled with your strength, and your labors may be in a foreign house,
11 And thou mourn at thy latter end, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
and you may mourn in the end, when you will have consumed your flesh and your body. And so you may say:
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
“Why have I detested discipline, and why has my heart not been quieted by correction?
13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
And why have I not listened to the voice of those who guided me? And why has my ear not inclined to my teachers?
14 I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
I have almost been with all evil in the midst of the church and of the assembly.”
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Drink water from your own cistern and from the springs of your own well.
16 Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and rivers of water in the streets?
Let your fountains be diverted far and wide, and divide your waters in the streets.
17 Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee.
Hold them for yourself alone, and do not let strangers be partakers with you.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed; and rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
Let your spring be blessed, 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.
a beloved doe and most pleasing fawn. Let her breasts inebriate you at all times. Be delighted continually by her love.
20 For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Why are you seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and why are you kept warm by the bosom of another?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he maketh level all his paths.
The Lord beholds the ways of man, and he considers all his steps.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
His own iniquities take hold of the impious, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
He shall die, for he has not held to discipline. And by the multitude of his foolishness, he shall be deceived.
