5 My child, listen carefully to the wisdom that I teach you. I will teach you how to understand things well. 2 If you learn this, you will choose to do the right things in life. Your words will show that you are wise.
3 Do not listen to the words of an adulteress. She promises something as sweet as honey and as beautiful as olive oil. 4 But in the end, she gives you bitter food, like poison. She gives you pain like a sharp sword. [ a ]
5 She will lead you down to the place of death. You will follow her to your grave! 6 She does not think about the way that leads to true life. She has lost the right road but she does not understand what she is doing.
7 So listen to me, my children. Never forget what I am telling you.
8 Keep far away from a woman like that! Do not even go near the door of her house. 9 If you go with her, you will lose your honour. A cruel person will rob you of the best years of your life. 10 Strangers will take all your money. The good things that you have worked for will belong to someone else.
11 At the end of your life, you will weep with pain. Your body will be sick and weak. 12 You will say, ‘I should have listened when people warned me that I was doing bad things. 13 I did not listen to my teachers. I refused to obey them.
14 Now I will be completely ashamed when I meet together with all the people.’
15 You should enjoy your own wife, as you enjoy clean water to drink.
16 You would not pour your good water onto the streets. So do not waste your love on other women. 17 Keep it for you and your wife. Do not share it with other women.
18 Enjoy sex with your own wife. May the wife that you married when you were young continue to give you joy. 19 May she be as pretty and beautiful as a young deer. May her breasts always make you happy. May she love you in a way that gives you joy.
20 So my son, do not let an adulteress deceive you. Do not enjoy the body of another man's wife.
21 The Lord sees everything that a person does. He knows every path that you go along.
22 The sins of a wicked person will be the trap that catches him. They will hold him like strong ropes. 23 He cannot control his sins, so he will die. He will become lost, because he does such stupid things.
5 Son, listen to this piece of wisdom from me. Pay attention to what I know to be true. 2 Remember to live wisely, and what you learn will keep your lips from saying the wrong thing. 3 Now, another man’s wife might be very charming, and the words from her lips so sweet and inviting. 4 But in the end, she will bring only bitterness and pain. It will be like bitter poison and a sharp sword. 5 She is on a path leading to death, and she will lead you straight to the grave. 6 Don’t follow her. She has lost her way and does not even know it. Be careful. Stay on the road that leads to life.
7 Now, my sons, listen to me. Don’t forget the words I say. 8 Stay away from the woman who commits adultery. Don’t even go near her house. 9 If you do, others will get the honor you should have had. Some stranger will get everything you worked years to get. 10 People you don’t know will take all your wealth. Others will get what you worked for. 11 At the end of your life, you will be sad that you ruined your health and lost everything you had. 12-13 Then you will say, “Why didn’t I listen to my parents? Why didn’t I pay attention to my teachers? I didn’t want to be disciplined. I refused to be corrected. 14 So now I have suffered through just about every kind of trouble anyone can have, and everyone knows it.”
15 Now, about sex and marriage: Drink only the water that comes from your own well, 16 and don’t let your water flow out into the streets. 17 Keep it for yourself, and don’t share it with strangers. 18 Be happy with your own wife. Enjoy the woman you married while you were young. 19 She is like a beautiful deer, a lovely fawn. Let her love satisfy you completely. Stay drunk on her love, 20 and don’t go stumbling into the arms of another woman.
21 The Lord clearly sees everything you do. He watches where you go. 22 The sins of the wicked will trap them. Those sins will be like ropes holding them back. 23 Evil people will die because they refuse to be disciplined. They will be trapped by their own desires.
5 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
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.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord , and he pondereth all his goings.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
5 My son, ( A ) pay attention to my wisdom,
( B ) Incline your ear to my understanding,
2 So that you may ( C ) maintain discretion
And your ( D ) lips may comply with knowledge.
3 For the lips of an [ a ] ( E ) adulteress ( F ) drip honey,
And her [ b ] speech is ( G ) smoother than oil;
4 But in the end she is ( H ) bitter as wormwood,
( I ) Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet ( J ) go down to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol.
6 [ c ] She does not ponder the ( K ) path of life;
Her ways are ( L ) unstable, she ( M ) does not know it .
7 ( N ) Now then, my sons, listen to me
And ( O ) do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
8 ( P ) Keep your way far from her,
And do not go near the ( Q ) door of her house,
9 Otherwise you will give your vigor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
10 And strangers will be filled with your strength,
And your hard-earned possessions will go to the house of a foreigner;
11 And you will groan [ d ] in [ e ] the end,
When your flesh and your body are consumed;
12 And you say, “How I ( R ) hated instruction!
And my heart ( S ) disdainfully rejected rebuke!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my ( T ) teachers,
Nor incline my ear to my instructors!
14 I was almost in total ruin
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
And [ f ] fresh water from your own well.
16 Should your ( U ) springs overflow into the street,
Streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone,
And not for strangers with you.
18 Let your ( V ) fountain be blessed,
And ( W ) rejoice in the ( X ) wife of your youth.
19 Like a loving ( Y ) doe and a graceful mountain goat,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
Be [ g ] exhilarated always with her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an [ h ] ( Z ) adulteress,
And embrace the breasts of a ( AA ) foreigner?
21 For the ( AB ) ways of everyone are before the eyes of the Lord ,
And He ( AC ) observes all his paths.
22 His ( AD ) own wrongdoings will trap the wicked,
And he will be held by the ropes of his sin.
23 He will ( AE ) die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.
5 My son, ( A ) pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words ( B ) of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil; ( C )
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, ( D )
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave. ( E )
6 She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. ( F )
7 Now then, my sons, listen ( G ) to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
8 Keep to a path far from her, ( H )
do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you lose your honor to others
and your dignity [ a ] to one who is cruel,
10 lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich the house of another. ( I )
11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction! ( J )
13 I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.
14 And I was soon in serious trouble ( K )
in the assembly of God’s people.” ( L )
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
18 May your fountain ( M ) be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. ( N )
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer ( O ) —
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?
