Proverbs 5

1My son, give attention to my wisdom; let your ear be turned to my teaching:

1My son! to my wisdom give attention, To mine understanding incline thine ear,

2So that you may be ruled by a wise purpose, and your lips may keep knowledge.

2To observe thoughtfulness, And knowledge do thy lips keep.

3For honey is dropping from the lips of the strange woman, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

3For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And smoother than oil <FI>is<Fi> her mouth,

4But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword;

4And her latter end <FI>is<Fi> bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a sword <FI>with<Fi> mouths.

5Her feet go down to death, and her steps to the underworld;

5Her feet are going down to death, Sheol do her steps take hold of.

6She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.

6The path of life--lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths--thou knowest not.

7Give ear to me then, my sons, and do not put away my words from you.

7And now, ye sons, hearken to me, And turn not from sayings of my mouth.

8Go far away from her, do not come near the door of her house;

8Keep far from off her thy way, And come not near unto the opening of her house,

9For fear that you may give your honour to others, and your wealth to strange men:

9Lest thou give to others thy honour, And thy years to the fierce,

10And strange men may be full of your wealth, and the fruit of your work go to the house of others;

10Lest strangers be filled <FI>with<Fi> thy power, And thy labours in the house of a stranger,

11And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;

11And thou hast howled in thy latter end, In the consumption of thy flesh and thy food,

12And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;

12And hast said, `How have I hated instruction, And reproof hath my heart despised,

13I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!

13And I have not hearkened to the voice of my directors, And to my teachers have not inclined mine ear.

14I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.

14As a little thing I have been all evil, In the midst of an assembly and a company.

15Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.

15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, Even flowing ones out of thine own well.

16Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.

16Let thy fountains be scattered abroad, In broad places rivulets of waters.

17Let them be for yourself only, not for other men with you.

17Let them be to thee for thyself, And not to strangers with thee.

18Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.

18Let thy fountain be blessed, And rejoice because of the wife of thy youth,

19As a loving hind and a gentle doe, let her breasts ever give you rapture; let your passion at all times be moved by her love.

19A hind of loves, and a roe of grace! Let her loves satisfy thee at all times, In her love magnify thyself continually.

20Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?

20And why dost thou magnify thyself, My son, with a stranger? And embrace the bosom of a strange woman?

21For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.

21For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.

22The evil-doer will be taken in the net of his crimes, and prisoned in the cords of his sin.

22His own iniquities do capture the wicked, And with the ropes of his sin he is holden.

23He will come to his end for need of teaching; he is so foolish that he will go wandering from the right way.

23He dieth without instruction, And in the abundance of his folly magnifieth himself!