Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend to my wisdom, [and] bow thy ear to my understanding:
My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and [that] thy lips may keep knowledge.
To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] a honey-comb, and her mouth [is] smoother than oil:
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil [is] her mouth,
4 But her end 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, Sheol do her steps take hold of. (Sheol h7585)
6 Lest thou shouldst ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, [that] thou canst not know [them].
The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,
9 Lest thou give thy honor to others, and thy years to the cruel:
Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labors [be] in the house of a stranger;
Lest strangers be filled [with] thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me!
And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.
15 Drink waters out of thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, [and] rivers of waters in the streets.
Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
17 Let them be only thy own, and not for strangers with thee.
Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
19 [Let her be as] the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
21 For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sins.
His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
