Proverbs 5:1-23
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
Listen carefully* to my discernment,+
2 So that you may guard your thinking abilitiesAnd safeguard knowledge with your lips.+
3 For the lips of a wayward* woman drip like a honeycomb,+And her mouth is smoother than oil.+
4 But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood+And as sharp as a two-edged sword.+
5 Her feet descend into death.
Her steps lead straight to the Grave.*
6 She gives no thought to the path of life.
Her course wanders, but she does not know where.
7 Now, my sons, listen to meAnd do not turn away from what I am saying.
8 Stay far away from her;Do not go near the entrance of her house,+
9 So that you may not give your dignity to others+Nor reap years of what is cruel;+
10 So that strangers may not drain your resources*+And what you labored for go to the house of a foreigner.
11 Otherwise, you will groan at the end of your lifeWhen your flesh and body waste away+
12 And you say: “How I hated discipline!
How my heart despised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my instructorsOr pay attention to my teachers.
14 I have come to the brink of complete ruinIn the midst of the entire congregation.”*+
15 Drink water from your own cisternAnd flowing* water from your own well.+
16 Should your springs be dispersed outside,Your streams of water in the public squares?+
17 Let them be for you alone,And not for strangers with you.+
18 May your own fountain* be blessed,And may you rejoice with the wife of your youth,+
19 A loving doe, a graceful mountain goat.*+
Let her breasts satisfy* you at all times.
May you be captivated by her love constantly.+
20 So why, my son, should you be captivated by a wayward* womanOr embrace the bosom of an immoral* woman?+
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah;He examines all his paths.+
22 The wicked one is ensnared by his own errors,And he will be caught in the ropes of his own sin.+
23 He will die for lack of disciplineAnd go astray because of his excessive foolishness.
