5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding: |
5:2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge. |
5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil: |
5:4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. |
5:5 Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol; |
5:6 So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, `and' she knoweth `it' not. |
5:7 Now therefore, `my' sons, hearken unto me, And depart not from the words of my mouth. |
5:8 Remove thy way far from her, And come not nigh the door of her house; |
5:9 Lest thou give thine honor unto others, And thy years unto the cruel; |
5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, And thy labors `be' in the house of an alien, |
5:11 And thou mourn at thy latter end, When thy flesh and thy body are consumed, |
5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof; |
5:13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! |
5:14 I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation. |
5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well. |
5:16 Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets? |
5:17 Let them be for thyself alone, And not for strangers with thee. |
5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth. |
5:19 `As' a loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love. |
5:20 For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? |
5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah; And he maketh level all his paths. |
5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked, And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin. |
5:23 He shall die for lack of instruction; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. |