Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.
My son, give attention to my wisdom; let your ear be turned to my teaching:
2 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
So that you may be ruled by a wise purpose, and your lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
For honey is dropping from the lips of the strange woman, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword;
Her feet go down to death, and her steps to the underworld; (Sheol h7585)
6 They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.
7 Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Give ear to me then, my sons, and do not put away my words from you.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
Go far away from her, do not come near the door of her house;
9 Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
For fear that you may give your honour to others, and your wealth to strange men:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,
And strange men may be full of your wealth, and the fruit of your work go to the house of others;
11 And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:
And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;
12 Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;
13 And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!
14 I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.
16 Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.
17 Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
Let them be for yourself only, not for other men with you.
18 Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.
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.
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.
20 Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?
21 The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.
22 His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
The evil-doer will be taken in the net of his crimes, and prisoned in the cords of his sin.
23 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
He will come to his end for need of teaching; he is so foolish that he will go wandering from the right way.
