Proverbs - Chapter 5

1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

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

2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

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

3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

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

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

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

5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

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

6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

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

7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

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

8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

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

9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

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

10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

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

11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

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

12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

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

13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

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

14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

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

15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

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

16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

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

17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

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

18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

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

19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

19 As 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.

20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

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

21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

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

22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

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

23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

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