WeBible

1 - My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:

2 - that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.

3 - For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,

4 - But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

5 - Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.

6 - She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.

7 - Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.

8 - Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,

9 - lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;

10 - lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house.

11 - You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

12 - and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

13 - neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!

14 - I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly.”

15 - Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.

16 - Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?

17 - Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.

18 - Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 - A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.

20 - For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?

21 - For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh. He examines all his paths.

22 - The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.

23 - He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.