Proverbs 5
1 My son, to my wisdom, attend, and, to mine understanding, incline thou thine ear:
My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, —and, as for knowledge, that thy lips may guard it.
that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For, with sweet droppings, drip the lips of her that is a stranger, and, smoother than oil, is her mouth;
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
4 But, the latter end of her, 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 go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol (Sheol h7585).
6 Lest, the path of life, she should ponder, her tracks have wandered she knoweth not [whither].
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she does not know it.
7 Now, therefore, ye sons, hearken unto me, and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep far from her thy way, and do not go near the opening of her house:
Remove your way far from her. Do not come near the door of her house,
9 Lest thou give, to other men, thy vigour, and thy years, to him that is cruel:
lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
10 Lest strange men, be well fed, by thy strength, and, thy toils, be in the house of the alien.
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.
11 So shalt thou grieve in thy latter end, in the failing of thy flesh and of thy healthy condition;
You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And thou shalt say—How I hated correction! and, reproof, my heart disdained;
and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
13 Neither hearkened I to the voice of my teachers, nor, to my instructors, inclined I mine ear:
I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
14 Soon was I in all evil, in the midst of convocation and assembly.
I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.”
15 Drink thou water out of thine own cistern, and flowing streams out of the midst of thine own well.
Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
16 Let not thy fountains, flow over, abroad, in the streets, dividings of waters:
Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be for thyself, alone, and not for strangers with thee.
Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
18 Let thy well-spring be blessed, —and get thy joy from the wife of thy youth: —
Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving hind! a graceful doe! let, her bosom, content thee at all times, and, in her love, mayst thou stray evermore.
A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
20 Wherefore, then, shouldst thou stray, my son, with a strange woman? or embrace the bosom of a woman unknown?
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
21 For, before the eyes of Yahweh, are the ways of a man, —and, all his tracks, doth he consider:
For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
22 His own iniquities, shall entrap him with the lawless, and, by the cords of his own sin, shall he be seized.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
23 He, shall die, for lack of discipline, and, by the abounding of his perversity, shall he be lost.
He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
