Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding,
My son, pay attention to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence,
2 that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.
so that you may guard your thinking, and so that your lips may preserve discipline. Do not pay attention to the deceit of a woman.
3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
For the lips of a loose woman are like a dripping honeycomb, and her voice is smoother than oil.
4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
But in the end, she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet descend into death, and her steps reach even to Hell. (Sheol h7585)
6 She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
They do not walk along the path of life; her steps are wandering and untraceable.
7 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
Therefore, my son, listen to me now, and do not withdraw from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
Make your way at a distance from her, and do not approach the doors of her house.
9 lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
Do not give your honor to foreigners, and your years to the cruel.
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.
Otherwise, outsiders may be filled with your strength, and your labors may be in a foreign house,
11 You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
and you may mourn in the end, when you will have consumed your flesh and your body. And so you may say:
12 and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.
“Why have I detested discipline, and why has my heart not been quieted by correction?
13 I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
And why have I not listened to the voice of those who guided me? And why has my ear not inclined to my teachers?
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin, among the gathered assembly.”
I have almost been with all evil in the midst of the church and of the assembly.”
15 Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
Drink water from your own cistern and from the springs of your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
Let your fountains be diverted far and wide, and divide your waters in the streets.
17 Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.
Hold them for yourself alone, and do not let strangers be partakers with you.
18 Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
Let your spring be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth:
19 A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
a beloved doe and most pleasing fawn. Let her breasts inebriate you at all times. Be delighted continually by her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?
Why are you seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and why are you kept warm by the bosom of another?
21 For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
The Lord beholds the ways of man, and he considers all his steps.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
His own iniquities take hold of the impious, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins.
23 He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.
He shall die, for he has not held to discipline. And by the multitude of his foolishness, he shall be deceived.
