Proverbs 5

1 My son, listen carefully to some [more] wise things that I will tell you. Listen well to what I am going to teach you.

2 If you do that, you will be able to choose wisely [what to do], and you will know [the right things] to say [MTY].

3 What an immoral woman says [to you may be] as sweet as honey, and sound smoother than olive oil [feels on your skin],

4 but the result [of being with her] will be bitter like gall and [injure you as badly], like being cut with a sharp two-edged sword.

5 If you go where she goes [MTY], you will go down to where the dead people are. Her steps will lead you straight to the grave. (Sheol h7585)

6 She is not concerned about the roads that lead to a [long] life. She walks [down] a crooked path, and she does not realize [that she is on the wrong road].

7 So now, my sons, listen to me. (Never turn aside from/always remember) [LIT] what I am about to tell you.

8 Run away from immoral women! Do not go near the doors of their houses!

9 If you enter the home of one of them, you will lose your (self-respect/good reputation) and [that woman’s husband] will not act mercifully toward you; he will [kill you and] take everything that you have acquired during your life!

10 Foreigners will take your money, and [all] the good things that you have worked for will (end up in their hands/become their possessions).

11 And when you are about to die, you will groan [with severe pain] because diseases [that you have gotten from being immoral] will be destroying your body.

12 Then you will say, “I hated it [when people tried to] correct me. I despised [people when they] reproved/rebuked me.

13 I did not heed what my teachers said! I paid no attention to those who [tried to] teach me [something about my behavior].

14 [Now] I am almost ruined, and I will be disgraced in public gatherings.”

15 Like a man is refreshed by drinking water from his own well [MET], enjoy [having sex] [EUP] only with your own wife.

16 Like you would not waste good water by pouring it into the street, [you should not have sex with other women]. [MET, EUP]

17 Enjoy [having sex] only with your wife; do not [have sex with] other women.

18 Let your wife be a source of great pleasure to you. (Be happy/[Enjoy sex]) with the woman whom you married when you were both young.

19 She is as pretty and graceful [as] a young female deer. Allow her breasts to always satisfy you. Allow her lovemaking to excite you.

20 My son, do not be [RHQ] captivated/charmed by an immoral woman! Do not fondle the breasts of another man’s wife!

21 [I say that] because Yahweh sees clearly everything that we do; he knows [where we are going on] the roads that we walk on.

22 Evil men’s sinful desires hold them fast; their sins are [like] ropes that bind them.

23 Evil men [will] die because they are unable to say “No” to their desires; they [will] (go astray/be lost) because of the foolish things that they do.