Proverbs 5
1 My son, to my wisdom, attend, and, to mine understanding, incline thou thine ear:
My son! Give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, —and, as for knowledge, that thy lips may guard it.
To observe thoughtfulness, And your lips keep 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 a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth [is] smoother than oil,
4 But, the latter end of her, 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 Lest, the path of life, she should ponder, her tracks have wandered she knoweth not [whither].
The path of life—lest you ponder, Her paths have moved—you do not know.
7 Now, therefore, ye sons, hearken unto me, and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.
And now, you sons, listen to me, And do not turn from sayings of my mouth.
8 Keep far from her thy way, and do not go near the opening 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, to other men, thy vigour, and thy years, to him that is cruel:
Lest you give your splendor to others, And your years to the fierce,
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] your power, And your labors in the house of a stranger,
11 So shalt thou grieve in thy latter end, in the failing of thy flesh and of thy healthy condition;
And you have howled in your latter end, In the consumption of your flesh and your food,
12 And thou shalt say—How I hated correction! and, reproof, my heart disdained;
And have said, “How I have hated instruction, And my heart has despised reproof,
13 Neither hearkened I to the voice of my teachers, nor, to my instructors, inclined I mine ear:
And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, And have not inclined my ear to my teachers.
14 Soon was I in all evil, in the midst of convocation and assembly.
As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a congregation.”
15 Drink thou water out of thine own cistern, and flowing streams out of the midst of thine own well.
Drink waters out of your own cistern, Even flowing ones out of your own well.
16 Let not thy fountains, flow over, abroad, in the streets, dividings of waters:
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 well-spring be blessed, —and get thy joy from the wife of thy youth: —
Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of 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 doe of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy you at all times, Magnify yourself in her love continually.
20 Wherefore, then, shouldst thou stray, my son, with a strange woman? or embrace the bosom of a woman unknown?
And why do you magnify yourself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
21 For, before the eyes of Yahweh, are the ways of a man, —and, all his tracks, doth he consider:
For the ways of each are before the eyes of YHWH, And He is pondering 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.
His own iniquities capture the wicked, And he is holden with the ropes of his sin.
23 He, shall die, for lack of discipline, and, by the abounding of his perversity, shall he be lost.
He dies without instruction, And magnifies himself in the abundance of his folly!
