Proverbs 5
1 My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow your ear to my understanding:
2 To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
That you may regard discretion, and that your 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 a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth 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, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. (Sheol h7585)
6 The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
Lest you should ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that you can not know them.
7 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
Hear me now therefore, O all of you children, 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 your way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
Lest you give your honour unto others, and your years unto the cruel:
10 Lest strangers be filled [with] thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,
Lest strangers be filled with your wealth; and your labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
And you mourn at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
And say, How have I 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.
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that 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 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 cistern, and running waters out of your own well.
16 Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17 Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
Let them be only your own, and not strangers' with you.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
Let your fountain be blessed: 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 her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and be you 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?
And why will you, my son, be ravished with a strange 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 the LORD, and he ponders all his activities.
22 His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sins.
23 He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
