Admonition to Avoid Seduction to Evil62

5:1 My child,1 be attentive to my wisdom,

pay close attention2 to my understanding,

5:2 in order to safeguard3 discretion,4

and that your lips may guard knowledge.

5:3 For the lips5 of the adulterous woman drip honey,

and her seductive words6 are smoother than olive oil,

5:4 but in the end7 she is bitter8 as wormwood,9

sharp as a two-edged10 sword.

5:5 Her feet go down to death;

her steps lead straight to the grave.11

5:6 Lest12 she should make level the path leading to life,13

her paths are unstable14 but she does not know it.15

5:7 So now, children,16 listen to me;

do not turn aside from the words I speak.17

5:8 Keep yourself18 far19 from her,

and do not go near the door of her house,

5:9 lest you give your vigor20 to others

and your years to a cruel person,

5:10 lest strangers devour21 your strength,22

and your labor23 benefit24 another man’s house.

5:11 And at the end of your life25 you will groan26

when your flesh and your body are wasted away.27

5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!

My heart spurned reproof!

5:13 For28 I did not obey my teachers29

and I did not heed30 my instructors.31

5:14 I almost32 came to complete ruin33

in the midst of the whole congregation!”34

5:15 Drink water from your own cistern

and running water from your own well.35

5:16 Should your springs be dispersed36 outside,

your streams of water in the wide plazas?

5:17 Let them be for yourself37 alone,

and not for strangers with you.38

5:18 May your fountain be blessed,39

and may you rejoice40 in your young wife41—

5:19 a loving doe,42 a graceful deer;

may her breasts satisfy you at all times,

may you be captivated43 by her love always.

5:20 But why should you be captivated,44 my son, by an adulteress,

and embrace the bosom of a different woman?45

5:21 For the ways of a person46 are in front of the Lord’s eyes,

and the Lord47 weighs48 all that person’s49 paths.

5:22 The wicked50 will be captured by his51 own iniquities,52

and he will be held53 by the cords of his own sin.54

5:23 He will die because55 there was no discipline;

because of the greatness of his folly56 he will reel.57