Proverbs 5:3-14
International Standard Version
3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
and her speech[a] is smoother than oil.
4 But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,[b]
and as sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead to Sheol.[c]
6 You aren’t thinking about[d] where her life is headed;
her steps wander, but you do not realize[e] it.
7 Now, children,[f] listen to me.
Don’t turn away from what I am saying.[g]
8 Keep[h] far away from her,
and don’t go near the entrance to her house,
9 so that you don’t give your honor to others,
and waste your best years;[i]
10 so that strangers don’t enrich themselves at your expense,[j]
and your work won’t end up the possession of foreigners.[k]
11 You will cry out in anguish when your end comes,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and you will say, “How I hated instruction,[l]
and my heart rejected correction!
13 I did not obey my teachers
and did not listen[m] to my instructors.
14 Now I am at the point of utter disaster
in[n] the assembly and in the congregation.”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:3 Lit. palate
- Proverbs 5:4 Wormwood is a plant with an extremely bitter taste.
- Proverbs 5:5 I.e. the realm of the dead
- Proverbs 5:6 Or She does not consider
- Proverbs 5:6 Or she does not realize
- Proverbs 5:7 Or sons
- Proverbs 5:7 Lit. from the words of my mouth
- Proverbs 5:8 Lit. Keep your path
- Proverbs 5:9 Lit. and your years to the cruel
- Proverbs 5:10 Lit. don’t satisfy themselves with your strength
- Proverbs 5:10 Lit. won’t go into a foreigner’s house
- Proverbs 5:12 Or discipline
- Proverbs 5:13 Lit. incline my ear
- Proverbs 5:14 Lit. in the midst of
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
