Proverbs 5
1 My son, to my wisdom, attend, and, to mine understanding, incline thou thine ear:
My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, —and, as for knowledge, that thy lips may guard it.
That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For, with sweet droppings, drip the lips of her that is a stranger, and, smoother than oil, is her mouth;
For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But, the latter end of her, is bitter as wormwood, sharp, as a two-edged sword!
But her latter end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on Sheol; (Sheol h7585)
6 Lest, the path of life, she should ponder, her tracks have wandered she knoweth not [whither].
So that she findeth not the level path of life: her ways are unstable [and] she knoweth [it] not.
7 Now, therefore, ye sons, hearken unto me, and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth.
Now therefore, [my] sons, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep far from her thy way, and do not go near the opening of her house:
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Lest thou give, to other men, thy vigour, and thy years, to him that is cruel:
Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 Lest strange men, be well fed, by thy strength, and, thy toils, be in the house of the alien.
Lest strangers be filled with thy strength; and thy labours [be] in the house of an alien;
11 So shalt thou grieve in thy latter end, in the failing of thy flesh and of thy healthy condition;
And thou mourn at thy latter end, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And thou shalt say—How I hated correction! and, reproof, my heart disdained;
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 Neither hearkened I to the voice of my teachers, nor, to my instructors, inclined I mine ear:
Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 Soon was I in all evil, in the midst of convocation and assembly.
I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink thou water out of thine own cistern, and flowing streams out of the midst of thine own well.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let not thy fountains, flow over, abroad, in the streets, dividings of waters:
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and rivers of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for thyself, alone, and not for strangers with thee.
Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee.
18 Let thy well-spring be blessed, —and get thy joy from the wife of thy youth: —
Let thy fountain be blessed; and rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
19 A loving hind! a graceful doe! let, her bosom, content thee at all times, and, in her love, mayst thou stray evermore.
[As] a loving hind and a pleasant doe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20 Wherefore, then, shouldst thou stray, my son, with a strange woman? or embrace the bosom of a woman unknown?
For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For, before the eyes of Yahweh, are the ways of a man, —and, all his tracks, doth he consider:
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he maketh level all his paths.
22 His own iniquities, shall entrap him with the lawless, and, by the cords of his own sin, shall he be seized.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
23 He, shall die, for lack of discipline, and, by the abounding of his perversity, shall he be lost.
He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
