Proverbs 5

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

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

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

⁴But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁹Let 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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