Proverbs 5
1 My son, listen carefully to some [more] wise things that I will tell you. Listen well to what I am going to teach you.
[My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply your ear to my words;
2 If you do that, you will be able to choose wisely [what to do], and you will know [the right things] to say [MTY].
that you may keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives you a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
3 What an immoral woman says [to you may be] as sweet as honey, and sound smoother than olive oil [feels on your skin],
for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases your palate:
4 but the result [of being with her] will be bitter like gall and [injure you as badly], like being cut with a sharp two-edged sword.
but afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
5 If you go where she goes [MTY], you will go down to where the dead people are. Her steps will lead you straight to the grave. (Sheol h7585)
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 She is not concerned about the roads that lead to a [long] life. She walks [down] a crooked path, and she does not realize [that she is on the wrong road].
For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me. (Never turn aside from/always remember) [LIT] what I am about to tell you.
Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
8 Run away from immoral women! Do not go near the doors of their houses!
Remove your way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
9 If you enter the home of one of them, you will lose your (self-respect/good reputation) and [that woman’s husband] will not act mercifully toward you; he will [kill you and] take everything that you have acquired during your life!
lest you give away your life to others, and your substance to the merciless:
10 Foreigners will take your money, and [all] the good things that you have worked for will (end up in their hands/become their possessions).
lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your labors come into the houses of strangers;
11 And when you are about to die, you will groan [with severe pain] because diseases [that you have gotten from being immoral] will be destroying your body.
And you repent at last, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
12 Then you will say, “I hated it [when people tried to] correct me. I despised [people when they] reproved/rebuked me.
and you shall say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
13 I did not heed what my teachers said! I paid no attention to those who [tried to] teach me [something about my behavior].
I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear.
14 [Now] I am almost ruined, and I will be disgraced in public gatherings.”
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Like a man is refreshed by drinking water from his own well [MET], enjoy [having sex] [EUP] only with your own wife.
Drink waters out of your own vessels, and out of your own springing wells.
16 Like you would not waste good water by pouring it into the street, [you should not have sex with other women]. [MET, EUP]
Let not waters out of your fountain be spilt by you, but let your waters go into your streets.
17 Enjoy [having sex] only with your wife; do not [have sex with] other women.
Let them be only your own, and let no stranger partake with you.
18 Let your wife be a source of great pleasure to you. (Be happy/[Enjoy sex]) with the woman whom you married when you were both young.
Let your fountain of water be [truly] your own; and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 She is as pretty and graceful [as] a young female deer. Allow her breasts to always satisfy you. Allow her lovemaking to excite you.
Let [your] loving hart and your graceful colt company with you, and let her be considered your own, and be with you at all times; for ravished with her love you shall be greatly increased.
20 My son, do not be [RHQ] captivated/charmed by an immoral woman! Do not fondle the breasts of another man’s wife!
Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold yourself in the arms of a woman not your own.
21 [I say that] because Yahweh sees clearly everything that we do; he knows [where we are going on] the roads that we walk on.
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths.
22 Evil men’s sinful desires hold them fast; their sins are [like] ropes that bind them.
Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
23 Evil men [will] die because they are unable to say “No” to their desires; they [will] (go astray/be lost) because of the foolish things that they do.
Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.
