1 Warning Against Adultery My son, pay attention to my wisdom,Incline your ear to my discernment;
2 That you may keep discretionAnd that your lips may guard knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drip honeyAnd smoother than oil is her 5:3Lit palate speech;
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood,Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,Her steps take hold of Sheol,
6 Lest she watch the path of life;Her tracks are unstable, she does not knowit.
7 ¶So now,mysons, listen to meAnd do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from herAnd do not go near the door of her house,
9 Lest you give your splendor to othersAnd your years to the cruel one;
10 Lest strangers be satisfied by your strengthAnd by your painful labor,thosein the house of a foreigner;
11 And you groan at your 5:11Or latter end,When your flesh and your body are consumed;
12 And you say, “How I have hated discipline!And my heart spurned reproof!
13 “I have not listened to the voice of my instructors,And I have not inclined my ear to my teachers!
14 “I was almost in utter ruinIn the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
15 ¶Drink water from your own cisternAnd 5:15Lit flowing fresh water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be dispersed abroad,Streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for you alone,And not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,And be glad in the wife of your youth.
19 Asa loving hind and a graceful doe,Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;Be 5:19Or exhilarated intoxicated always with her love.
20 So why should you, my son, be intoxicated with a strange womanAnd embrace the bosom of a foreign woman?
21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of Yahweh,And He watches all his tracks.
22 His own iniquities will capture himwho isthe wicked one,And with the cords of his sin he will be held fast.
23 He will die for lack of discipline,And in the abundance of his 5:23A lack of wisdom due to negligence or carelessness; the activity of an ignorant fool folly he will 5:23Or go astray stumble in intoxication.