Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
My son! Give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding,
2 that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
To observe thoughtfulness, And your lips keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth [is] smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as 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 She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
The path of life—lest you ponder, Her paths have moved—you do not know.
7 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
And now, you sons, listen to me, And do not turn from sayings of my mouth.
8 Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
Keep your way far from off her, And do not come near to the opening of her house,
9 lest you give your honour to others, and your years to the cruel one;
Lest you give your splendor to others, And your years to the fierce,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labours enrich another man’s house.
Lest strangers be filled [with] your power, And your labors in the house of a stranger,
11 You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
And you have howled in your latter end, In the consumption of your flesh and your food,
12 and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
And have said, “How I have hated instruction, And my heart has despised reproof,
13 I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, And have not inclined my ear to my teachers.
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin, amongst the gathered assembly.”
As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a congregation.”
15 Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
Drink waters out of your own cistern, Even flowing ones out of your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
Let your fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places streams of waters.
17 Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
Let them be to you for yourself, And not to strangers with you.
18 Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of your youth,
19 A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
A doe of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy you at all times, Magnify yourself in her love continually.
20 For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
And why do you magnify yourself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
21 For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
For the ways of each are before the eyes of YHWH, And He is pondering all his paths.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
His own iniquities capture the wicked, And he is holden with the ropes of his sin.
23 He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
He dies without instruction, And magnifies himself in the abundance of his folly!
