Proverbs 5
Admonition to Avoid Seduction to Evil1
5:1 My child,2 be attentive to my wisdom,
pay close attention3 to my understanding,
5:2 in order to safeguard4 discretion,5
and that your lips may guard knowledge.
5:3 For the lips6 of the adulterous woman drip honey,
and her seductive words7 are smoother than olive oil,
5:4 but in the end8 she is bitter9 as wormwood,10
sharp as a two-edged11 sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.12
5:6 Lest13 she should make level the path leading to life,14
her paths are unstable15 but she does not know it.16
5:7 So now, children,17 listen to me;
do not turn aside from the words I speak.18
5:8 Keep yourself19 far20 from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
5:9 lest you give your vigor21 to others
and your years to a cruel person,
5:10 lest strangers devour22 your strength,23
and your labor24 benefit25 another man’s house.
5:11 And at the end of your life26 you will groan27
when your flesh and your body are wasted away.28
5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!
My heart spurned reproof!
5:13 For29 I did not obey my teachers30
and I did not heed31 my instructors.32
5:14 I almost33 came to complete ruin34
in the midst of the whole congregation!”35
5:15 Drink water from your own cistern
and running water from your own well.36
5:16 Should your springs be dispersed37 outside,
your streams of water in the wide plazas?
5:17 Let them be for yourself38 alone,
and not for strangers with you.39
5:18 May your fountain be blessed,40
and may you rejoice41 in your young wife42 –
5:19 a loving doe,43 a graceful deer;
may her breasts satisfy you at all times,
may you be captivated44 by her love always.
5:20 But why should you be captivated,45 my son, by an adulteress,
and embrace the bosom of a different woman?46
5:21 For the ways of a person47 are in front of the
and the
5:22 The wicked51 will be captured by his52 own iniquities,53
and he will be held54 by the cords of his own sin.55
5:23 He will die because56 there was no discipline;