5:1 My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
5:2 that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge.
5:3 For the lips of a forbidden 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 ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
5:7 And now, O sons, 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 lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,
5:10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
5:11 and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,
5:12 and you say, “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 I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”
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 strangers with you.
5:18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
5:19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
5:20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
5:21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.
5:22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
5:23 He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.
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