Proverbs 5:1–23

Avoid Seduction

5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;

listen closely v to my understanding w

2 so that you may maintain discretion

and your lips safeguard knowledge. x

3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey

and her words are y smoother than oil,

4 in the end she’s as bitter as * wormwood z

and as sharp as a double-edged sword. a

5 Her feet go down to death;

her steps head straight for * Sheol. b

6 She doesn’t consider the path of life;

she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

7 So now, my sons, listen to me,

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

8 Keep your way far from her.

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

9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others

and your years to someone cruel;

10 strangers will drain your resources,

and your earnings 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. e

13 I didn’t obey my teachers

or listen closely f to my mentors.

14 I am on the verge of complete ruin

before the entire community.”

Enjoy Marriage

15 Drink water from your own cistern,

water flowing from your own well. g

16 Should your springs flow in the streets,

streams of water in the public squares? h

17 They should be for you alone

and not for you to share with strangers.

18 Let your fountain be blessed,

and take pleasure in the wife of your youth. i

19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn—

let her breasts always satisfy you; j

be lost in her love forever.

20 Why, my son, would you be infatuated

with a forbidden woman

or embrace the breast of a stranger? k

21 For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, l

and He considers all his paths. m

22 A wicked man’s iniquities entrap him; n

he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin. o

23 He will die because there is no discipline, p

and be lost because of his great stupidity.