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.