Proverbs 5
1 My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
My son, attend to my wisdom. Incline thine ear to my understanding,
2 To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
that thou may preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil [is] her mouth,
For the lips of an interloping woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil.
4 And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on Sheol, (Sheol h7585)
6 The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
so that she does not find the level path of life. Her ways are unstable, and she does not know.
7 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
Now therefore, ye sons, hearken to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,
Remove thy way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house,
9 Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
lest thou give thine honor to others, and thy years to the cruel,
10 Lest strangers be filled [with] thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,
lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labors be in the house of an alien,
11 And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
and thou mourn at thy latter end when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
and say, How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
13 And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
14 As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the assembly and congregation.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
Let thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of thy youth:
19 A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.
a loving hind and a pleasant doe. Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and be thou ravished always with her love.
20 And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
For why should thou, my son, be ravished with an interloping woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he makes level all his paths.
22 His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
His own iniquities shall take a wicked man, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin.
23 He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
He shall die for lack of instruction. And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
