Warning Against Adultery

5 wMy son, be attentive to my wisdom;

xincline your ear to my understanding,

2  that you may keep ydiscretion,

and your lips may zguard knowledge.

3  For the lips of aa forbidden1 woman drip honey,

and her speech2 is bsmoother than oil,

4  but in the end she is cbitter as dwormwood,

esharp as fa two-edged sword.

5  Her feet ggo down to death;

her steps follow the path to3 Sheol;

6  she hdoes not ponder the path of life;

her ways wander, and she does not know it.

7  And inow, O sons, listen to me,

and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8  Keep 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 merciless,

10  lest strangers take their fill of your strength,

and your jlabors go to the house of a foreigner,

11  and at the end of your life you kgroan,

when your flesh and body are consumed,

12  and you say, l“How I hated discipline,

and my heart mdespised reproof!

13  I did not listen to the voice of my teachers

or incline my ear to my instructors.

14  nI am at the brink of utter ruin

in the assembled congregation.”