Chapter 5

My son, attend⁵⁴ unto my wisdom, [and] bow⁵⁴ thine ear to my understanding:

That thou mayest regard² discretion, and [that] thy lips may keep⁴ knowledge.

For the lips of a strange woman⁵ drop⁴ [as] an honeycomb, and her mouth [is] smoother than oil:

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

Her feet go down⁶ to death; her steps take hold⁴ on hell.

Lest thou shouldest ponder¹⁷ the path of life, her ways are moveable,¹ [that] thou canst not know⁴ [them].

Hear³ me now therefore, O ye children, and depart⁴ not from the words of my mouth.

Remove thy way far⁵⁴ from her, and come not nigh⁴ the door of her house:

Lest thou give⁴ thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

Lest strangers⁵ be filled⁴ with thy wealth; and thy labours [be] in the house of a stranger;

And thou mourn¹ at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,²

And say,¹ How have I hated¹ instruction, and my heart despised¹ reproof;

And have not obeyed¹ the voice of my teachers,⁵⁶ nor inclined⁵² mine ear to them that instructed¹⁸ me!

I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

Drink³ waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters⁶ out of thine own well.

Let thy fountains be dispersed⁴ abroad, [and] rivers of waters in the streets.

Let them be only thine own, and not strangers'⁵ with thee.

Let thy fountain be blessed:⁷ and rejoice³ with the wife of thy youth.

[Let her be as] the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy¹⁷ thee at all times; and be thou ravished⁴ always with her love.

And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished⁴ with a strange woman,⁵ and embrace¹⁷ the bosom of a stranger?

For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth¹⁸ all his goings.

His own iniquities shall take⁴ the wicked himself, and he shall be holden¹¹ with the cords of his sins.

He shall die⁴ without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.⁴