Proverbs 5: 1 - 6: 35
| 1My son, pay attention to my wisdom. |
| Turn your ear to my understanding, |
| 2that you may maintain discretion, |
| that your lips may preserve knowledge. |
| 3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. |
| Her mouth is smoother than oil, |
| 4but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, |
| and as sharp as a two-edged sword. |
| 5Her feet go down to death. |
| Her steps lead straight to Sheol. |
| 6She gives no thought to the way of life. |
| Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it. |
| 7Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. |
| Don’t depart from the words of my mouth. |
| 8Remove your way far from her. |
| Don’t come near the door of her house, |
| 9lest you give your honour to others, |
| and your years to the cruel one; |
| 10lest strangers feast on your wealth, |
| and your labours enrich another man’s house. |
| 11You will groan at your latter end, |
| when your flesh and your body are consumed, |
| 12and say, “How I have hated instruction, |
| and my heart despised reproof. |
| 13I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers, |
| nor turned my ear to those who instructed me! |
| 14I have come to the brink of utter ruin, |
| amongst the gathered assembly.” |
| 15Drink water out of your own cistern, |
| running water out of your own well. |
| 16Should your springs overflow in the streets, |
| streams of water in the public squares? |
| 17Let them be for yourself alone, |
| not for strangers with you. |
| 18Let your spring be blessed. |
| Rejoice in the wife of your youth. |
| 19A loving doe and a graceful deer— |
| let her breasts satisfy you at all times. |
| Be captivated always with her love. |
| 20For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? |
| Why embrace the bosom of another? |
| 21For the ways of man are before the LORD’s eyes. |
| He examines all his paths. |
| 22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. |
| The cords of his sin hold him firmly. |
| 23He will die for lack of instruction. |
| In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray. |
| 1My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbour, |
| if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger, |
| 2you are trapped by the words of your mouth; |
| you are ensnared with the words of your mouth. |
| 3Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, |
| since you have come into the hand of your neighbour. |
| Go, humble yourself. |
| Press your plea with your neighbour. |
| 4Give no sleep to your eyes, |
| nor slumber to your eyelids. |
| 5Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, |
| like a bird from the snare of the fowler. |
| 6Go to the ant, you sluggard. |
| Consider her ways, and be wise; |
| 7which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, |
| 8provides her bread in the summer, |
| and gathers her food in the harvest. |
| 9How long will you sleep, sluggard? |
| When will you arise out of your sleep? |
| 10A little sleep, a little slumber, |
| a little folding of the hands to sleep: |
| 11so your poverty will come as a robber, |
| and your scarcity as an armed man. |
| 12A worthless person, a man of iniquity, |
| is he who walks with a perverse mouth, |
| 13who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, |
| who motions with his fingers, |
| 14in whose heart is perverseness, |
| who devises evil continually, |
| who always sows discord. |
| 15Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. |
| He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy. |
| 16There are six things which the LORD hates; |
| yes, seven which are an abomination to him: |
| 17arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, |
| hands that shed innocent blood, |
| 18a heart that devises wicked schemes, |
| feet that are swift in running to mischief, |
| 19a false witness who utters lies, |
| and he who sows discord amongst brothers. |
| 20My son, keep your father’s commandment, |
| and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching. |
| 21Bind them continually on your heart. |
| Tie them around your neck. |
| 22When you walk, it will lead you. |
| When you sleep, it will watch over you. |
| When you awake, it will talk with you. |
| 23For the commandment is a lamp, |
| and the law is light. |
| Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, |
| 24to keep you from the immoral woman, |
| from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue. |
| 25Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, |
| neither let her captivate you with her eyelids. |
| 26For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. |
| The adulteress hunts for your precious life. |
| 27Can a man scoop fire into his lap, |
| and his clothes not be burnt? |
| 28Or can one walk on hot coals, |
| and his feet not be scorched? |
| 29So is he who goes in to his neighbour’s wife. |
| Whoever touches her will not be unpunished. |
| 30Men don’t despise a thief |
| if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; |
| 31but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. |
| He shall give all the wealth of his house. |
| 32He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. |
| He who does it destroys his own soul. |
| 33He will get wounds and dishonour. |
| His reproach will not be wiped away. |
| 34For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. |
| He won’t spare in the day of vengeance. |
| 35He won’t regard any ransom, |
| neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts. |
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