5:1 My child, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
5:2 so that you may hold on to prudence, and your lips may guard knowledge.
5:3 For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
5:4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.
5:6 She does not keep straight to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
5:7 And now, my child, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
5:8 Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house;
5:9 or you will give your honor to others, and your years to the merciless,
5:10 and strangers will take their fill of your wealth, and your labors will go to the house of an alien;
5:11 and at the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,
5:12 and you say, “Oh, how I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
5:13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.
5:14 Now I am at the point of utter ruin in the public assembly.”
5:15 Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
5:16 Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?
5:17 Let them be for yourself alone, and not for sharing with strangers.
5:18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
5:19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be intoxicated always by her love.
5:20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
5:21 For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord, and he examines all their paths.
5:22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them, and they are caught in the toils of their sin.
5:23 They die for lack of discipline, and because of their great folly they are lost.
Want to give us your feedback? Suggestions?
Would like to help?
Click here to become a Patreon. Entry level is FREE:
www.patreon.com/ScriptureAwakened Thank you!