5:1 My son, give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding; |
5:2 That you may observe discretion And your lips may reserve knowledge. |
5:3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey And smoother than oil seems her speech; |
5:4 But in the end she will become bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. |
5:5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps take hold of Sheol. |
5:6 She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways prove unstable, she does not know it. |
5:7 Now then, my sons, listen to me And do not depart from the words of my mouth. |
5:8 Keep your way far from her And do not go near the door of her house, |
5:9 Or you will give your vigor to others And your years to the cruel one; |
5:10 And strangers will consume your strength And your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien; |
5:11 And you groan at your final end, When your flesh and your body have become consumed; |
5:12 And you say, "How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof! |
5:13 "I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to my instructors! |
5:14 "I almost ruined myself utterly In the midst of the assembly and congregation." |
5:15 Drink water from your own cistern And fresh water from your own well. |
5:16 Should your springs disperse abroad, Streams of water in the streets? |
5:17 Make them yours alone And not for strangers with you. |
5:18 Let your fountain receive blessings, And rejoice in the wife of your youth. |
5:19 As a loving hind and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Have exhilaration always with her love. |
5:20 For why should you, my son, become enraptured with an adulteress And embrace the bosom of a foreigner? |
5:21 For the ways of a man present themselves before the eyes of the LORD, And He watches all his paths. |
5:22 His own iniquities will capture the wicked, And he will ensnare himself with the cords of his sin. |
5:23 He will die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray. |