5:1 My son, pay close attention to my wisdom, and listen carefully to my discernment,
5:2 so that you may always act prudently and your lips may safeguard knowledge.
5:3 The lips of an adulteress drip with honey and her mouth is smoother than oil,
5:4 but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead directly to the netherworld.
5:6 Far from following the path of life, she unknowingly wanders off in different directions.
5:7 So now, my son, listen to me, and do not stray from the advice that I offer.
5:8 Keep far away from her and do not go anywhere near the door of her house,
5:9 lest you turn over your life to others and your years to one without mercy,
5:10 lest strangers grow prosperous on your wealth and your arduous toil enrich another man’s house.
5:11 Then, at the end of your life, you will groan when your flesh and your body are consumed.
5:12 You will say, “Why did I despise discipline and allow my heart to spurn correction?
5:13 Why did I fail to heed the voice of my teachers and refuse to listen to my instructors?
5:14 Now I am at the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the public assembly.”
5:15 Drink the water from your own cistern, fresh water from your own well.
5:16 Do not allow your springs to overflow, gushing forth water into the streets.
5:17 Let them be for you alone and not be shared by strangers.
5:18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
5:19 a lovely deer, a graceful fawn— let her affection fill you with delight and ever hold you captive.
5:20 Why then be seduced by another man’s wife, my son, and succumb to the embraces of an adulteress?
5:21 For each man’s ways are observed by the Lord, and he examines each man’s paths.
5:22 The wicked man will be ensnared by his own iniquities and held fast in the bonds of his sins.
5:23 He will perish for lack of discipline, condemned by his own excessive folly.
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