Proverbs 5
1 My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,
My son, attend to my wisdom, [and] bow thy ear to my understanding:
2 To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.
That thou mayest regard 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 a strange woman drop [as] a honey-comb, 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 thou shouldst ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, [that] thou canst not know [them].
7 And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.
Hear me now therefore, O ye 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 thy 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 thou give thy 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 wealth; and thy labors [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 thou mourn at the last, 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 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 my 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 thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well.
16 Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.
Let thy 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 thy own, 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 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 as] the loving hind and pleasant roe; 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?
And why wilt thou, 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 pondereth all his goings.
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.
