1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, |
2 That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge. |
3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil; |
4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. |
5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell. |
6 Lest you ponder her path of life--Her ways are unstable; You do not know them. |
7 Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth. |
8 Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house, |
9 Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; |
10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner; |
11 And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, |
12 And say: "How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! |
13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! |
14 I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation." |
15 Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. |
16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? |
17 Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. |
18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. |
19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. |
20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress? |
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths. |
22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. |
23 He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. |