Proverbs 5

^aMy son, attend unto my wisdom,

And ^aabow thine ear to my understanding:

²That thou mayest regard ^bdiscretion,

And that thy lips may ^ckeep knowledge.

³For the lips of a ^dstrange woman ^edrop as a honeycomb,

And her mouth is ^fsmoother than oil:

⁴But her end is ^gbitter as ^hwormwood,

^fiSharp as a ^ktwoedged sword.

⁵Her feet ^lgo down to death;

Her steps take hold on hell.

⁶Lest thou shouldest ^mponder the path of life,

Her ⁿways ^oare moveable, that ^pthou canst not know them.

^7qHear me now therefore, O ye children,

And depart not from the words of my mouth.

⁸Remove thy way far from her,

And come not nigh the door of her house:

⁹Lest thou give thine honour unto others,

And thy years unto the ^rcruel:

¹⁰Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth;

And thy ^slabours be in the house of a stranger;

¹¹And thou ^tmourn at the last,

When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

¹²And say, How have I ^uhated instruction,

And my heart ^xdespised reproof;

¹³And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,

Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

¹⁴I was ^yalmost in all evil

In the midst of the congregation and assembly.

¹⁵Drink ^zwaters out of thine own cistern,

And running waters out of thine own well.

¹⁶Let thy ^afountains be dispersed abroad,

And rivers of waters ^bin the streets.

¹⁷Let them be only thine own,

And not strangers’ with thee.

¹⁸Let thy ^zfountain be blessed:

And ^crejoice with ^dthe wife of thy youth.

¹⁹Let her be as the loving ^ehind and pleasant ^froe;

Let her ^gbreasts ^hsatisfy thee at all times;

And be thou ravisht always with her love.

²⁰And why wilt thou, my son, be ravisht with a ⁱstrange woman,

And embrace the bosom of a ⁱstranger?

²¹For ^jthe ways of man are before ^kthe eyes of the Lord,

And he ^lpondereth all his ^mgoings.

²²ⁿHis own iniquities shall ^otake the wicked himself,

And he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

^23pHe shall die without instruction;

And in the greatness of his folly he shall ^qgo astray.

VI.