Proverbs — Chapter 5

My son, listen to my wisdom;Incline your ear to my insight,

That you may have foresight,While your lips hold fast to knowledge.

For the lips of a forbiddenaforbidden Lit. “strange.” woman drip honey;Her mouth is smoother than oil;

But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,Sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to Death;Her steps take hold of Sheol.

She does not chart a path of life;Her course meanders for lack of knowledge.

So now, sons, pay heed to me,And do not swerve from the words of my mouth.

Keep yourself far away from her;Do not come near the doorway of her house

Lest you give up your vigor to others,Your years to a ruthless one;

Lest strangers eat their fill of your strength,And your toil be for the house of another;

And in the end you roar,When your flesh and body are consumed,

And say,“O how I hated discipline,And heartily spurned rebuke.

I did not pay heed to my teachers,Or incline my ear to my instructors.

Soon I was in dire troubleAmidst the assembled congregation.”

Drink water from your own cistern,Running water from your own well.

Your springs will gush forthIn streams in the public squares.

They will be yours alone,Others having no part with you.

Let your fountain be blessed:Find joy in the wife of your youth—

A loving doe, a graceful mountain goat.Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;Be infatuated with love of her always.

Why be infatuated, my son, with a forbiddenbforbidden Or “a stranger.” woman?Why clasp the bosom of an alien woman?

For everyone’s ways are before the eyes of God,Who surveys their entire course.

The wicked man will be trapped in his iniquities;He will be caught up in the ropes of his sin.

He will die for lack of discipline,Infatuated by his great folly.