Proverbs 5
1 My son, give attention to my wisdom; let your ear be turned to my teaching:
My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
2 So that you may be ruled by a wise purpose, and your lips may keep knowledge.
that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For honey is dropping from the lips of the strange woman, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword;
But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
6 She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.
She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.
7 Give ear to me then, my sons, and do not put away my words from you.
Now therefore, son, listen to me. Do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Go far away from her, do not come near the door of her house;
Remove your way far from her. Do not come near the door of her house,
9 For fear that you may give your honour to others, and your wealth to strange men:
lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the merciless;
10 And strange men may be full of your wealth, and the fruit of your work go to the house of others;
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.
11 And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;
You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;
and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!
neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me.
14 I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.
I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."
15 Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.
Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
16 Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.
Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be for yourself only, not for other men with you.
Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
18 Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.
Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 As a loving hind and a gentle doe, let her breasts ever give you rapture; let your passion at all times be moved by her love.
A loving doe and a graceful deer—let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
20 Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
21 For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD. He examines all his paths.
22 The evil-doer will be taken in the net of his crimes, and prisoned in the cords of his sin.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
23 He will come to his end for need of teaching; he is so foolish that he will go wandering from the right way.
He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
