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. Turn your ear to my understanding:
2 so you can make good decisions and protect knowledge with your lips.
that you may maintain discretion, that 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,
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth 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.
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 ·Place of the dead·. (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 gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she does not know it.
7 Now, my son, listen to me; don't reject what I have taught you.
Now therefore, my sons, sh'ma ·hear obey· me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Stay far away from her! Don't go near the door of her house!
Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
9 Otherwise you'll surrender your honor to others, and your character to cruel people.
lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
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 another man’s house.
11 When you come to the end of your life you'll moan in pain as disease destroys your body.
You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 You'll say, “How I used to hate discipline, and my mind rebelled against being corrected!
and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 I didn't listen to what my teacher said. I didn't pay attention to my instructors.
neither have I sh'ma ·heard obeyed· the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
14 Now I'm on the verge of being completely disgraced before everyone in the community.”
I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
16 Why should your springs be spilled outside, your streams of water poured out in the streets?
Should your springs overflow in the streets, 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 for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
18 May your spring of water be blessed, and may you enjoy the wife you married when you were young.
Let your spring be blessed. 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.
An ahab ·affectionately loving· doe and a chen ·graceful· deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
20 Why, my son, become intoxicated with an immoral woman? Why embrace the breasts of a woman who acts like a prostitute?
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
21 For the Lord sees everything people do, the Lord investigates everywhere they go.
For the ways of man are before Adonai’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
22 The wicked are trapped by their evil actions; the cords of their sins tie them up.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
23 They will die because they lack self-control, lost because of their great stupidity.
He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
