Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen carefully as I explain what makes sense,
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
2 so you can make good decisions and protect knowledge with your lips.
that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of an immoral woman may taste as sweet as honey, the kisses of her mouth may be as smooth as oil,
Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end what you get from her is the bitterness of wormwood and the sharp pain of being cut with a two-edged sword.
in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol. (Sheol h7585)
6 She doesn't follow the path that leads to life—she wanders away and doesn't even know she's lost.
She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.
7 Now, my son, listen to me; don't reject what I have taught you.
So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
8 Stay far away from her! Don't go near the door of her house!
Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
9 Otherwise you'll surrender your honor to others, and your character to cruel people.
lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;
10 Strangers will spend your wealth; everything you've worked for will go to someone else.
lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.
11 When you come to the end of your life you'll moan in pain as disease destroys your body.
At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
12 You'll say, “How I used to hate discipline, and my mind rebelled against being corrected!
and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
13 I didn't listen to what my teacher said. I didn't pay attention to my instructors.
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.
14 Now I'm on the verge of being completely disgraced before everyone in the community.”
I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
16 Why should your springs be spilled outside, your streams of water poured out in the streets?
Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Keep them for yourselves alone. They're not for you to share with strangers.
Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your spring of water be blessed, and may you enjoy the wife you married when you were young.
May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
19 May she be to you a loving deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts always be intoxicating to you; may you be drunk on her love forever.
A loving doe, a graceful fawn— may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
20 Why, my son, become intoxicated with an immoral woman? Why embrace the breasts of a woman who acts like a prostitute?
Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the Lord sees everything people do, the Lord investigates everywhere they go.
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
22 The wicked are trapped by their evil actions; the cords of their sins tie them up.
The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
23 They will die because they lack self-control, lost because of their great stupidity.
He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.
