Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.
[My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply thine ear to my words;
2 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
that thou mayest keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives thee a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
3 For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases thy palate:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
but afterwards thou wilt find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
For the feet of folly lead those who deal with her down to the grave with death; and her steps are not established. (Sheol h7585)
6 They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
7 Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
Remove thy way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
9 Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
lest thou give away thy life to others, and thy substance to the merciless:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,
lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours come into the houses of strangers;
11 And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:
And thou repent at last, when the flesh of thy body is consumed,
12 Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
and thou shalt say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
13 And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear.
14 I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
Drink waters out of thine own vessels, and out of thine own springing wells.
16 Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
Let not waters out of thy fountain be spilt by thee, but let thy waters go into thy streets.
17 Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
Let them be only thine own, and let no stranger partake with thee.
18 Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
Let thy fountain of water be [truly] thine own; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 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.
Let [thy] loving hart and thy graceful colt company with thee, and let her be considered thine own, and be with thee at all times; for ravished with her love thou shalt be greatly increased.
20 Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold thyself in the arms of a woman not thine own.
21 The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths.
22 His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
23 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.
