Proverbs 5
1 My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow thy ear to my understanding:
[My] son, attend to my wisdom, and apply your ear to my words;
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
that you may keep good understanding, and the discretion of my lips gives you a charge. Give no heed to a worthless woman;
3 For the lips of an adulteress drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, who for a season pleases your palate:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
but afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.
For the feet of folly lead those who deal with her down to the grave with death; and her steps are not established. (Sheol h7585)
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are unstable, that thou canst not know them.
For she goes not upon the paths of life; but her ways are slippery, and not easily known.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Now then, [my] son, hear me, and make not my words of none effect.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not near the door of her house:
Remove your way far from her; draw not near to the doors of her house:
9 Lest thou give thy honour to others, and thy years to the cruel:
lest you give away your life to others, and your substance to the merciless:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
lest strangers be filled with your strength, and your labors come into the houses of strangers;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And you repent at last, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
and you shall say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart avoided reproofs!
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me!
I heard not the voice of him that instructed me, and taught me, neither did I apply mine ear.
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink waters out of thy own cistern, and running waters out of thy own well.
Drink waters out of your own vessels, and out of your own springing wells.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
Let not waters out of your fountain be spilt by you, but let your waters go into your streets.
17 Let them be only thy own, and not for strangers with thee.
Let them be only your own, and let no stranger partake with you.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Let your fountain of water be [truly] your own; and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
Let [your] loving hart and your graceful colt company with you, and let her be considered your own, and be with you at all times; for ravished with her love you shall be greatly increased.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold yourself in the arms of a woman not your own.
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sins.
Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly.
