Proverbs 5–7

5TH CHAPTER

Avoid Adultery

¹My son, 

pay attention to my wisdom. 

Open your ears to my understanding 

²so that you may act with foresight 

and speak with insight. 

³The lips of an adulterous woman drip with honey. 

Her kiss is smoother than oil, 

⁴but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, 

as sharp as a two-edged sword. 

⁵Her feet descend to death. 

Her steps lead straight to hell. 

⁶She doesn’t even think about the path of life. 

Her steps wander, and she doesn’t realize it. 

⁷But now, sons, 

listen to me, 

and do not turn away from what I say to you. 

⁸Stay far away from her. 

Do not even go near her door. 

⁹Either you will surrender your reputation to others 

and ⸤the rest of⸥ your years to some cruel person, 

¹⁰or strangers will benefit from your strength 

and you will have to work hard in a pagan’s house. 

¹¹Then you will groan when your end comes, 

when your body and flesh are consumed. 

You will say, 

¹²“Oh, how I hated discipline! 

How my heart despised correction! 

¹³I didn’t listen to what my teachers said to me, 

nor did I keep my ear open to my instructors. 

¹⁴I almost reached total ruin 

in the assembly and in the congregation.” 

¹⁵Drink water out of your own cistern 

and running water from your own well. 

¹⁶Why should water flow out of your spring? 

Why should your streams flow into the streets? 

¹⁷They should be yours alone, 

so do not share them with strangers. 

¹⁸Let your own fountain be blessed, 

and enjoy the girl you married when you were young, 

¹⁹a loving doe and a graceful deer.^a

Always let her breasts satisfy you. 

Always be intoxicated with her love. 

²⁰Why should you, my son, 

be intoxicated with an adulterous woman 

and fondle a loose woman’s breast? 

²¹Each person’s ways are clearly seen by the Lord, 

and he surveys all his actions. 

²²A wicked person will be trapped by his own wrongs, 

and he will be caught in the ropes of his own sin. 

²³He will die for his lack of discipline 

and stumble around because of his great stupidity. 

6TH CHAPTER

Avoid Disaster

¹My son, 

if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor 

or pledge yourself for a stranger with a handshake, 

²you are trapped by the words of your own mouth, 

caught by your own promise. 

³Do the following things, my son, so that you may free yourself, 

because you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: 

Humble yourself, 

and pester your neighbor. 

⁴Don’t let your eyes rest 

or your eyelids close. 

⁵Free yourself like a gazelle from the hand of a hunter 

and like a bird from the hand of a hunter. 

⁶Consider the ant, you lazy bum. 

Watch its ways, and become wise. 

⁷Although it has no overseer, officer, or ruler, 

⁸in summertime it stores its food supply. 

At harvest time it gathers its food. 

⁹How long will you lie there, you lazy bum? 

When will you get up from your sleep? 

¹⁰“Just a little sleep, 

just a little slumber, 

just a little nap.” 

¹¹Then your poverty will come ⸤to you⸥ like a drifter, 

and your need will come ⸤to you⸥ like a bandit. 

¹²A good-for-nothing scoundrel is a person who has a dishonest mouth. 

¹³He winks his eye, 

makes a signal with his foot, 

⸤and⸥ points with his fingers. 

¹⁴He devises evil all the time with a twisted mind. 

He spreads conflict. 

¹⁵That is why disaster will come on him suddenly. 

In a moment he will be crushed beyond recovery. 

¹⁶There are six things that the Lord hates, 

even seven that are disgusting to him: 

¹⁷arrogant eyes, 

a lying tongue, 

hands that kill innocent people, 

¹⁸a mind devising wicked plans, 

feet that are quick to do wrong, 

¹⁹a dishonest witness spitting out lies, 

and a person who spreads conflict among relatives. 

More Advice about Avoiding Adultery

²⁰My son, 

obey the command of your father, 

and do not disregard the teachings of your mother. 

²¹Fasten them on your heart forever. 

Hang them around your neck. 

²²When you walk around, they will lead you. 

When you lie down, they will watch over you. 

When you wake up, they will talk to you 

²³because the command is a lamp, 

the teachings are a light, 

and the warnings from discipline are the path of life 

²⁴to keep you from an evil woman 

and from the smooth talk of a loose woman. 

²⁵Do not desire her beauty in your heart. 

Do not let her catch you with her eyes. 

²⁶A prostitute’s price is ⸤only⸥ a loaf of bread, 

but a married woman hunts for ⸤your⸥ life itself. 

²⁷Can a man carry fire in his lap 

without burning his clothes? 

²⁸Can anyone walk on red-hot coals 

without burning his feet? 

²⁹So it is with a man who has sex with his neighbor’s wife. 

None who touch her will escape punishment. 

³⁰People do not despise a thief who is hungry 

when he steals to satisfy his appetite, 

³¹but when he is caught, 

he has to repay it seven times. 

He must give up all the possessions in his house. 

³²Whoever commits adultery with a woman has no sense. 

Whoever does this destroys himself. 

³³An adulterous man will find disease^aand dishonor, 

and his disgrace will not be blotted out, 

³⁴because jealousy arouses a husband’s fury. 

The husband will show no mercy when he takes revenge. 

³⁵No amount of money will change his mind. 

The largest bribe will not satisfy him. 

7TH CHAPTER

¹My son, 

pay attention to my words. 

Treasure my commands that are within you. 

²Obey my commands so that you may live. 

Follow my teachings just as you protect the pupil of your eye. 

³Tie them on your fingers. 

Write them on the tablet of your heart. 

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister.” 

Give the name “my relative” to understanding 

⁵in order to guard yourself from an adulterous woman, 

from a loose woman with her smooth talk. 

⁶From a window in my house I looked through my screen. 

⁷I was looking at gullible people 

when I saw a young man without much sense among youths 

⁸He was crossing a street near her corner 

and walking toward her house 

⁹in the twilight, 

in the evening, 

in the dark hours of the night. 

¹⁰A woman with an ulterior motive meets him. 

She is dressed as a prostitute. 

¹¹She is loud and rebellious. 

Her feet will not stay at home. 

¹²One moment she is out on the street, 

the next she is at the curb, 

on the prowl at every corner. 

¹³She grabs him and kisses him and brazenly says to him, 

¹⁴“I have some sacrificial meat. 

Today I kept my vows. 

¹⁵That’s why I came to meet you. 

Eagerly, I looked for you, 

and I’ve found you. 

¹⁶I’ve made my bed, 

with colored sheets of Egyptian linen. 

¹⁷I’ve sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 

¹⁸Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning. 

Let’s enjoy making love, 

¹⁹because my husband’s not home. 

He has gone on a long trip. 

²⁰He took lots of money with him. 

He won’t be home for a couple of weeks.” 

²¹With all her seductive charms, she persuades him. 

With her smooth lips, she makes him give in. 

²²He immediately follows her 

like a steer on its way to be slaughtered, 

like a ram hobbling into captivity 

²³until an arrow pierces his heart, 

like a bird darting into a trap. 

He does not realize that it will cost him his life. 

²⁴Now, sons, 

listen to me. 

Pay attention to the words from my mouth. 

²⁵Do not let your heart be turned to her ways. 

Do not wander onto her paths, 

²⁶because she has brought down many victims, 

and she has killed all too many. 

²⁷Her home is the way to hell 

and leads to the darkest vaults of death.