Proverbs 5

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,

2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.

3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,

4 in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.

6 She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

7 So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.

8 Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,

9 lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel;

10 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner.

11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,

12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!

13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors.

14 I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”

15 Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

16 Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?

17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers.

18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.

20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.

22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.

23 He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.

1 ¶ My son, attend unto my wisdom, [and] bow thine ear to my understanding:

2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and [that] thy lips may keep knowledge.

3 For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] an honeycomb, and her mouth [is] smoother than oil:

4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, [that] thou canst not know [them].

7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours [be] in the house of a stranger;

11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15 ¶ Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, [and] rivers of waters in the streets.

17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy 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.

20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

21 For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

1 My child, take heed to my wisdom; incline thine ear unto my doctrine,

2 That thou mayest keep good counsel, and that thy mouth may know the difference.

3 For the lips of the harlot are sweet as honeycomb, and her throat is smoother than oil,

4 But afterwards bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a twoedged sword.

5 their feet run down to death, their corridors attain hell.

6 She walketh not straight in the way of life: her footsteps are unsteady, that she knoweth not where she prayeth.

7 Obey me therefore, my children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

8 Let thy ways be far from her, and not nigh unto the door of her house,

9 That thou givest not thine honour to strangers, nor thy years to the cruel,

10 Lest strangers fill themselves with thy substance, and thy labour be not in another man's house,

11 And afterward thou shalt groan, when thou hast consumed thy body and thy substance,

12 And say: Alas, how I have hated discipline, and my heart hated punishment,

13 And I have not hearkened unto the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear unto them that taught me.

14 I am come almost to all mischief in the sight of all people, and in the sight of all the nation.

15 Drink water out of thy pit, and rivers out of thy well.

16 Let thy fountains flow forth, and the rivers of water upon the streets.

17 But have them alone, and no stranger with thee.

18 Bless thy spring, and rejoice in the wife of thy youth.

19 She is as sweet as a hind, and as lovely as a deer. Let her love satisfy thee at all times, And rejoice in her love for ever.

20 My child, why wilt thou delight thyself in a stranger, and be in love with another?

21 For every man's ways are straight before the LORD, and he hath utterly rejected all their courses.

22 The iniquity of the wicked shall take him, and he shall be held with the snare of his sin.

23 He shall die, because he will not be drawn: and for his great folly it shall not be well with him.