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5:1  My son, pay attention to my wisdom; ·listen [L bend your ear] to my words of understanding.
5:2  ·Be careful to use good sense [or So you might keep discrete] and ·watch what you say [L your lips might protect knowledge].
5:3  The ·words of another man’s wife [lips of an immoral/L strange woman] may ·seem sweet as [L drip like] honey; ·they [L her tongue/palette] may be as smooth as olive oil.
5:4  But in the end she ·will bring you sorrow [L is bitter like wormwood], ·causing you pain [L sharp] like a two-edged sword.
5:5  ·She is on the way [L Her feet go down] to death; her steps ·are headed straight [or grab on] to ·the grave [L Sheol].
5:6  She gives little thought to the path of life. ·She doesn’t even know that her ways are wrong [L Her paths wander and she does not even realize it].
5:7  Now, my sons, listen to me, and don’t ·ignore what I say [L turn aside from the speeches of my mouth].
5:8  ·Stay away from such a woman [L Keep your path far from her]. Don’t even go near the ·door [entrance] of her house,
5:9  or you will give your ·riches [honor; or vitality; vigor] to others, and the best years of your life will be given to someone cruel.
5:10  Strangers will ·enjoy your wealth [or sap your strength], and what you worked so hard for will ·go to someone else [L end up in the house of a foreigner].
5:11  You will groan at the end of your life when your ·health is gone [L body and flesh are exhausted].
5:12  Then you will say, “I hated ·being told what to do [instruction; discipline]! ·I would not listen to [L My heart despised] correction!
5:13  I would not listen to my teachers or ·pay attention [extend my heart] to my instructors.
5:14  I ·came [or am] close to being completely ruined in front of ·a whole group of people [L the assembled congregation].”
5:15  ·Be faithful to your own wife [L Drink water from your own well; Song 4:10–15], ·just as you drink [L gushing] water from your own ·well [cistern].
5:16  Don’t ·pour your water in the streets [L let your fountains burst forth outside]; ·don’t give your love to just any woman [L streams of water in the public squares].
5:17  These things are yours alone and shouldn’t be shared with strangers.
5:18  ·Be happy with the wife you married when you were young [L Rejoice in the wife of your youth]. ·She gives you joy, as your fountain gives you water [L May your spring be blessed].
5:19  She is a lovely deer and a graceful doe. Let her ·love [or breasts] always make you happy; let her love always ·hold you captive [intoxicate/inebriate you; Song 4:10].
5:20  My son, ·don’t be held captive [L why should you be intoxicated/inebriated…?] by a ·woman who takes part in adultery [L stranger]. Don’t fondle the bosom of a ·woman who is not your wife [L foreigner].
5:21  The ·Lord sees everything you do [L eyes of the Lord are on the path of every person], and he watches ·where you go [L all their ways].
5:22  An evil man will be ·caught [captured] in his wicked ways; the ropes of his sins will tie him up.
5:23  He will die ·because he does not control himself [L without discipline/instruction], and he will be ·held captive [or intoxicated; inebriated] by his ·foolishness [stupidity].