Proverbs 5
1 My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
[My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply your ear to my words;
2 To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
that you may keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives you a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil [is] her mouth,
for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases your palate:
4 And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
but afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
For the feet of folly lead those who deal with her down to the grave with death; and her steps are not established. (Sheol h7585)
6 The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
7 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
8 Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,
Remove your way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
9 Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
lest you give away your life to others, and your substance to the merciless:
10 Lest strangers be filled [with] thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,
lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your labours come into the houses of strangers;
11 And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
And you repent at last, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
12 And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
and you shall say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
13 And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear.
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 congregation and assembly.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.
Drink waters out of your own vessels, and out of your own springing wells.
16 Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
Let not waters out of your fountain be spilt by you, but let your waters go into your streets.
17 Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
Let them be only your own, and let no stranger partake with you.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
Let your fountain of water be [truly] your own; and rejoice with the wife of your 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.
Let [your] loving hart and your graceful colt company with you, and let her be considered your own, and be with you at all times; for ravished with her love you shall be greatly increased.
20 And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold yourself in the arms of a woman not your own.
21 For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths.
22 His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
23 He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.
