Proverbs 5
1 My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.
2 To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil [is] her mouth,
For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
4 And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell. (Sheol h7585)
6 The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
7 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not 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 come not nigh the doors of her house.
9 Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
Give not thy honour to strangers, 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 labours be in another man’s house,
11 And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:
12 And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
13 And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
14 As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.
I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.
Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
16 Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
17 Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with 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.
Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; he thou delighted continually with her love.
20 And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
21 For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
22 His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
23 He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
