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, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
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 maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
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 the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
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 in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as 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)
Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol. (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].
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me. (Never turn aside from/always remember) [LIT] what I am about to tell you.
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Run away from immoral women! Do not go near the doors of their houses!
Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door 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 your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
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 feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.
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.
You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 Then you will say, “I hated it [when people tried to] correct me. I despised [people when they] reproved/rebuked me.
and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
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 haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
14 [Now] I am almost ruined, and I will be disgraced in public gatherings.”
I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered 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 water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
16 Like you would not waste good water by pouring it into the street, [you should not have sex with other women]. [MET, EUP]
Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
17 Enjoy [having sex] only with your wife; do not [have sex with] other women.
Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers 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 spring be blessed. Rejoice in 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.
A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
20 My son, do not be [RHQ] captivated/charmed by an immoral woman! Do not fondle the breasts of another man’s wife!
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
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 man are before Yahweh’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
22 Evil men’s sinful desires hold them fast; their sins are [like] ropes that bind them.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
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.
He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
