5 aMy son, attend unto my wisdom,

And aabow thine ear to my understanding:

2  That thou mayest regard bdiscretion,

And that thy lips may ckeep knowledge.

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

And her †mouth is fsmoother than oil:

4  But her end is gbitter as hwormwood,

fiSharp as a ktwoedged sword.

5  Her feet lgo down to death;

Her steps take hold on hell.

6  Lest thou shouldest mponder the path of life,

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

7  qHear me now therefore, O ye children,

And depart not from the words of my mouth.

8  Remove thy way far from her,

And come not nigh the door of her house:

9  Lest thou give thine honour unto others,

And thy years unto the rcruel:

10  Lest strangers be filled with †thy wealth;

And thy slabours be in the house of a stranger;

11  And thou tmourn at the last,

When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12  And say, How have I uhated instruction,

And my heart xdespised reproof;

13  And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,

Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

14  I was yalmost in all evil

In the midst of the congregation and assembly.

15  Drink zwaters out of thine own cistern,

And running waters out of thine own well.

16  Let thy afountains be dispersed abroad,

And rivers of waters bin the streets.

17  Let them be only thine own,

And not strangers’ with thee.

18  Let thy zfountain be blessed:

And crejoice with dthe wife of thy youth.

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

Let her gbreasts †hsatisfy thee at all times;

And †be thou ravished always with her love.

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

And embrace the bosom of a istranger?

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

And he lpondereth all his mgoings.

22  nHis own iniquities shall otake the wicked himself,

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

23  pHe shall die without instruction;

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