Proverbs 5

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

1My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,

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

2That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.

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

3For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.

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

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

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

5Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.

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

6They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.

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

7Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

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

8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.

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

9Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.

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

10Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man's house,

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

11And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say;

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

12Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,

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

13And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?

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

14I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.

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

15Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:

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

16Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.

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

17Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.

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

18Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:

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

19Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with her love.

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

20Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?

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

21The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.

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

22His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.

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

23He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.