Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding:
My son! Give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
To observe thoughtfulness, And your lips keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth [is] smoother than oil,
4 But her latter end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
Her feet are going down to death, Her steps take hold of Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
6 So that she findeth not the level path of life: her ways are unstable [and] she knoweth [it] not.
The path of life—lest you ponder, Her paths have moved—you do not know.
7 Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
And now, you sons, listen to me, And do not turn from sayings of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
Keep your way far from off her, And do not come near to the opening of her house,
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
Lest you give your splendor to others, And your years to the fierce,
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength; and thy labours [be] in the house of an alien;
Lest strangers be filled [with] your power, And your labors in the house of a stranger,
11 And thou mourn at thy latter end, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And you have howled in your latter end, In the consumption of your flesh and your food,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
And have said, “How I have hated instruction, And my heart has despised reproof,
13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, And have not inclined my ear to my teachers.
14 I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a congregation.”
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Drink waters out of your own cistern, Even flowing ones out of your own well.
16 Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and rivers of water in the streets?
Let your fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places streams of waters.
17 Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee.
Let them be to you for yourself, And not to strangers with you.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed; and rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of 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 doe of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy you at all times, Magnify yourself in her love continually.
20 For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
And why do you magnify yourself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he maketh level all his paths.
For the ways of each are before the eyes of YHWH, And He is pondering all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
His own iniquities capture the wicked, And he is holden with the ropes of his sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
He dies without instruction, And magnifies himself in the abundance of his folly!
