Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ears to my understanding,
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
2 so you may learn about discretion and your lips may protect knowledge.
that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of an adulteress drip with honey and her mouth is smoother than oil,
Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, cutting like a sharp sword.
in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
6 She gives no thought to the path of life. Her footsteps wander; she does not know where she is going.
She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
7 Now, my sons, listen to me; do not turn away from listening to the words of my mouth.
So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your path far away from her and do not come near the door of her house.
Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
9 In that way you will not give away your honor to others or years of your life to a cruel person;
lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
10 strangers will not feast on your wealth; what you have worked for will not go into the house of strangers.
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body waste away.
At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
12 You will say, “How I hated instruction and my heart despised correction!
and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13 I would not obey my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.
14 I was almost completely ruined in the midst of the assembly, among the gathering of the people.”
I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern and drink running water from your own well.
Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow everywhere and your streams of water flow in the public squares?
Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be for yourself alone and not for strangers with you.
Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth,
May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
19 for she is a loving deer and a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be continually intoxicated by her love.
A loving doe, a graceful fawn— may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
20 For why should you, my son, be captivated by an adulteress; why should you embrace the breasts of an immoral woman?
Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 Yahweh sees everything a person does and watches all the paths he takes.
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
22 A wicked person will be seized by his own iniquities; the cords of his sin will hold him tight.
The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
23 He will die because he lacks instruction; he is led astray by his great foolishness.
He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
