Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence.
My son, to my wisdom, attend, and, to mine understanding, incline thou thine ear:
2 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
That thou mayest preserve discretion, —and, as for knowledge, that thy lips may guard it.
3 For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.
For, with sweet droppings, drip the lips of her that is a stranger, and, smoother than oil, is her mouth;
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
But, the latter end of her, is bitter as wormwood, sharp, as a two-edged sword!
Her feet, are going down to death, —on hades, will her steps take firm hold. (Sheol h7585)
6 They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.
Lest, the path of life, she should ponder, her tracks have wandered she knoweth not [whither].
7 Now therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Now, therefore, ye sons, hearken unto me, and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.
Keep far from her thy way, and do not go near the opening of her house:
9 Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
Lest thou give, to other men, thy vigour, and thy years, to him that is cruel:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,
Lest strange men, be well fed, by thy strength, and, thy toils, be in the house of the alien.
11 And thou mourn it the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say:
So shalt thou grieve in thy latter end, in the failing of thy flesh and of thy healthy condition;
12 Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,
And thou shalt say—How I hated correction! and, reproof, my heart disdained;
13 And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?
Neither hearkened I to the voice of my teachers, nor, to my instructors, inclined I mine ear:
14 I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.
Soon was I in all evil, in the midst of convocation and assembly.
15 Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:
Drink thou water out of thine own cistern, and flowing streams out of the midst of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.
Let not thy fountains, flow over, abroad, in the streets, dividings of waters:
17 Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.
Let them be for thyself, alone, and not for strangers with thee.
18 Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
Let thy well-spring be blessed, —and get thy joy from 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.
A loving hind! a graceful doe! let, her bosom, content thee at all times, and, in her love, mayst thou stray evermore.
20 Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?
Wherefore, then, shouldst thou stray, my son, with a strange woman? or embrace the bosom of a woman unknown?
21 The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.
For, before the eyes of Yahweh, are the ways of a man, —and, all his tracks, doth he consider:
22 His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.
His own iniquities, shall entrap him with the lawless, and, by the cords of his own sin, shall he be seized.
23 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
He, shall die, for lack of discipline, and, by the abounding of his perversity, shall he be lost.
