Proverbs 4:1–5:23
4 Children, listen to the instruction of a father,
and be attentive in order to know insight.
2 For I have given you good instruction;
do not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son to my father,
tender and alone before my mother,
4 he taught me and said to me,
“May your heart hold fast to my words;
guard my commandments and live.
do not forget and do not turn from the sayings of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her—then she will guard you;
love her and she will keep you.
7 The beginning of wisdom: Get wisdom!
With all that is in your possession, gain insight.
8 Cherish her and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will give a garland for your head;
she shall bestow a crown of glory upon you.”
10 Listen, my child, take my sayings,
and the years of your life shall be great.
11 In the way of wisdom I have instructed you;
I have led you in the path of uprightness.
12 ⌊When you walk⌋,a your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Seize the instruction! Do not let go!
Guard her, for she is your life.
14 In the path of the wicked do not go;
do not walk in the way of those who do evil.
15 Avoid it; do not transgress it;
turn away from it and pass by.
16 For they will not sleep if they have not done wrong,
and they are robbed of their sleep if they do not cause stumbling.
17 For they ate the bread of wickedness,
and they drank the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous ones is like the light of dawn,
leading and shining until the day ⌊is full⌋.b
19 The way of the wicked ones is like deep darkness;
they do not know what they stumble over.
20 My child, be attentive to my words;
to my sayings incline your ear.
21 May they not escape from your ⌊sight⌋;c
keep them in the midst of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them
and healing ⌊to the entire body⌋.d
23 With all vigilance, keep your heart,
for from it comes the sourcee of life.
24 Remove from yourself ⌊deceitful speech⌋,f
and abolish ⌊devious talk⌋g from yourself.
25 May your eyes look forwardh
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 May the path of your foot be balanced
and all your ways be sure.
27 Do not swerve right or left;
remove your foot from evil.
5 My child, be attentive to my wisdom,
and to my understanding incline your ear;
and knowledge will guard your lips.
3 For the lips of the strange woman will drip honey,
and smoother than oil is her mouth.a
4 But her end is bitter as the wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
her steps take hold of Sheol.b
6 She does not observec the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
Do Not Commit Adultery Against Wisdom
7 Now, O children, listen to me;
do not depart from the sayings of my mouth.
8 Keep your paths far from her,
and do not go near to the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to the others,
and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and say “How I hated discipline,
and I despised reproof!”
13 and “I did not listen to the voice of my teachers,
and I did not incline my ear to my instructors!
14 I was almost at utterd ruine
in the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern
and flowing waters from inside your own well.
16 Shall your springs be scattered outward?
In the streets, shall there be streams of water?
and not for strangers who are with you.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wifef of your youth.
19 She is a deer of love and a doe of grace;
may her breasts satisfy you ⌊always⌋;g
by her love may you be intoxicated continually.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my child, by a strange woman,
and embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For before the eyes of Yahweh are ⌊human ways⌋,h
and all his paths he examines.
22 His iniquities shall ensnare him, the evildoer,
and in the vanity of his sin he shall be caught.
23 He shall die ⌊for lack of⌋i discipline,
and in the greatness of his folly he shall be lost.