Proverbs 5
Revised Geneva Translation
5 My son, hearken to my wisdom. Incline your ear to my knowledge,
2 that you may regard counsel and your lips observe knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb. And her mouth is more soft than oil.
4 But the end of her is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death and her steps take hold on Hell.
6 She does not weigh the way of life. Her paths are moveable. You cannot know them.
7 Hear me now, therefore, O children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her and do not come near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel;
10 lest the stranger should be filled with your strength and your labors be in the house of a stranger.
11 And you mourn at your end (when you have consumed your flesh and your body)
12 and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction;
13 “and have not obeyed the voice of those who taught me, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me?!
14 “I was almost brought into all evil in the midst of the Congregation and assembly.”
15 Drink the water of your cistern, and of the rivers out of the midst of your own well.
16 Let your fountains flow forth, and the rivers of waters in the streets.
17 But let them be yours—and yours only—and not the strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed. And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 Let her be as the loving deer and pleasant roe. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Delight in her love continually.
20 For why should you delight, my son, in a strange woman; or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD. And He ponders all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked, himself, and he shall be seized with the cords of his own sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction, and shall go astray through his great folly.
Proverbs 5
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Avoid Seduction
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
listen closely[a] to my understanding(A)
2 so that you may maintain discretion
and your lips safeguard knowledge.(B)
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey
and her words are[b] smoother than oil,
4 in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood(C)
and as sharp as a double-edged sword.(D)
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps head straight for Sheol.(E)
6 She doesn’t consider the path of life;
she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.
7 So now, sons, listen to me,
and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.(F)
8 Keep your way far from her.
Don’t go near the door of her house.(G)
9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others
and your years to someone cruel;
10 strangers will drain your resources,
and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.
11 At the end of your life, you will lament
when your physical body has been consumed,
12 and you will say, ‘How I hated discipline,
and how my heart despised correction.(H)
13 I didn’t obey my teachers
or listen closely[c] to my instructors.
14 I am on the verge of complete ruin
before the entire community.’
Enjoy Marriage
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
water flowing from your own well.(I)
16 Should your springs flow in the streets,
streams in the public squares?(J)
17 They should be for you alone
and not for you to share with strangers.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.(K)
19 A loving deer, a graceful doe[d] –
let her breasts always satisfy you;(L)
be lost in her love for ever.
20 Why, my son, would you lose yourself
with a forbidden woman
or embrace a wayward woman?(M)
21 For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes,(N)
and he considers all his paths.(O)
22 A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him;(P)
he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin.(Q)
23 He will die because there is no discipline,(R)
and be lost because of his great stupidity.
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