Proverbs 5:3–14

3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey

and her words areE smoother than oil,

4 in the end she’s as bitter as wormwoodw

and as sharp as a double-edged sword.x

5 Her feet go down to death;

her steps head straight for Sheol.y

6 She doesn’t consider the path of life;

she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

7 So now, sons, listen to me,

and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.z

8 Keep your way far from her.

Don’t go near the door of her house.aa

9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others

and your years to someone cruel;

10 strangers will drain your resources,

and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.

11 At the end of your life, you will lament

when your physical body has been consumed,

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

and how my heart despised correction.ab

13 I didn’t obey my teachers

or listen closelyF to my instructors.

14 I am on the verge of complete ruin

before the entire community.”