Proverbs 5
1 My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
My son, attend unto my wisdom; to my understanding incline thou thy ear:
2 To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
That thou mayest observe 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 as of fine honey drop the lips of an adulterous woman, and smoother than oil is her palate;
4 And her latter end [is] bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword [with] mouths.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, it is sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death, her steps take firm hold on the nether world: (Sheol h7585)
6 The path of life — lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths — thou knowest not.
So that she cannot balance the path of life; her tracks are unsteady, and she knoweth it not.
7 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
And now, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the sayings of my mouth.
8 Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,
Remove far from her thy way, and come not nigh to the door of her house;
9 Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,
That thou mayest not give up unto others thy vigor, and thy years unto the cruel;
10 Lest strangers be filled [with] thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,
That strangers may not satisfy themselves with thy strength, and with thy exertions, in the house of an alien:
11 And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,
While thou moanest at thy end, when thy flesh and thy body are coming to their end,
12 And hast said, 'How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,
And thou sayest, How have I hated correction, and how hath my heart rejected reproof;
13 And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.
While I hearkened not to the voice of my instructors, and to my teachers I inclined not my ear;
14 As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.
But little more was wanting, and I had been in all [kinds of] unhappiness 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 water out of thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well.
16 Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
So will thy springs overflow abroad; and in the open streets will be thy rivulets of water;
17 Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.
They will be thy own only, and not those of strangers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,
Thy fountain will 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.
The lovely gazelle and the graceful chamois: let her bosom satisfy thee abundantly at all times; with her love be thou ravished continually.
20 And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of an alien woman?
21 For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.
For before the eyes of the Lord are the ways of man, and all his tracks doth he weigh in the balance.
22 His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.
His own iniquities will truly catch the wicked, and with the cords of his sin will he be held firmly.
23 He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!
He will indeed die for want of correction; and through the abundance of his folly will he sink into error.
