Proverbs 5
1 My son, to my wisdom, attend, and, to mine understanding, incline thou thine ear:
[My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply thine ear to my words;
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, —and, as for knowledge, that thy lips may guard it.
that thou mayest keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives thee a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
3 For, with sweet droppings, drip the lips of her that is a stranger, and, smoother than oil, is her mouth;
for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases thy palate:
4 But, the latter end of her, is bitter as wormwood, sharp, as a two-edged sword!
but afterwards thou wilt 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 Lest, the path of life, she should ponder, her tracks have wandered she knoweth not [whither].
For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
7 Now, therefore, ye sons, hearken unto me, and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.
Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
8 Keep far from her thy way, and do not go near the opening of her house:
Remove thy way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
9 Lest thou give, to other men, thy vigour, and thy years, to him that is cruel:
lest thou give away thy life to others, and thy substance to the merciless:
10 Lest strange men, be well fed, by thy strength, and, thy toils, be in the house of the alien.
lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours come into the houses of strangers;
11 So shalt thou grieve in thy latter end, in the failing of thy flesh and of thy healthy condition;
And thou repent at last, when the flesh of thy body is consumed,
12 And thou shalt say—How I hated correction! and, reproof, my heart disdained;
and thou shalt say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
13 Neither hearkened I to the voice of my teachers, nor, to my instructors, inclined I mine ear:
I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear.
14 Soon was I in all evil, in the midst of convocation and assembly.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink thou water out of thine own cistern, and flowing streams out of the midst of thine own well.
Drink waters out of thine own vessels, and out of thine own springing wells.
16 Let not thy fountains, flow over, abroad, in the streets, dividings of waters:
Let not waters out of thy fountain be spilt by thee, but let thy waters go into thy streets.
17 Let them be for thyself, alone, and not for strangers with thee.
Let them be only thine own, and let no stranger partake with thee.
18 Let thy well-spring be blessed, —and get thy joy from the wife of thy youth: —
Let thy fountain of water be [truly] thine own; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 A loving hind! a graceful doe! let, her bosom, content thee at all times, and, in her love, mayst thou stray evermore.
Let [thy] loving hart and thy graceful colt company with thee, and let her be considered thine own, and be with thee at all times; for ravished with her love thou shalt be greatly increased.
20 Wherefore, then, shouldst thou stray, my son, with a strange woman? or embrace the bosom of a woman unknown?
Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold thyself in the arms of a woman not thine own.
21 For, before the eyes of Yahweh, are the ways of a man, —and, all his tracks, doth he consider:
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on 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.
Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
23 He, shall die, for lack of discipline, and, by the abounding of his perversity, shall he be lost.
Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.
