Proverbs 5

1My son, pay attention to my wisdom; turn your ear to my understanding,

2so that you may keep discretion and your lips may guard knowledge.

3For the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

4but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.

5Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.

6She gives no thought to the path of life; her tracks wander, and she does not know it.

7So now, my sons, listen to me, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

8Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,

9or you will give your vigor to others and your years to someone cruel,

10or strangers will feast on your strength, and what you worked hard for will go to a foreigner’s house.

11At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and your body are worn away,

12and you will say, “How I hated instruction! How my heart despised correction!

13I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or turn my ear to those who instructed me.

14I came close to complete ruin in the middle of the assembly and the community.”

15Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.

16Should your springs spill out into the streets, your streams of water into the public squares?

17Let them be yours alone, not shared with strangers.

18May your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

19a loving doe, a graceful deer; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be captivated by her love always.

20Why, my son, should you be captivated by a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of a foreign woman?

21For a person’s ways are in full view of Yahweh, and he weighs all their paths.

22The wicked man is caught by his own iniquities; he is held fast by the cords of his sin.

23He will die for lack of instruction; he will be led astray by his great folly.