Proverbs 5
Avoid Seduction
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;listen closely ▼
▼Lit wisdom; stretch out your ear
to my understanding b 2 so that you may maintain discretion
and your lips safeguard knowledge. c
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey
and her words are ▼
▼Lit her palate is
smoother than oil, 4 in the end she’s as bitter as ▼
▼wormwood: A small shrub used as a medicinal herb, noted for its bitter taste
wormwood fand as sharp as a double-edged sword. g
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps head straight for ▼
▼Sheol: A Hebrew word for either the grave or the realm of the dead
Sheol. i 6 She doesn’t consider the path of life;
she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me,
and don’t turn away from the words of my mouth. j
8 Keep your way far from her.
Don’t go near the door of her house. k
9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others
and your years to someone cruel;
10 strangers will drain your resources,
and your earnings 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. l
13 I didn’t obey my teachers
or listen closely ▼
▼Lit or turn my ear
to my mentors. 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. n
16 Should your springs flow in the streets,
streams of water in the public squares? o
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. p
19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn –
let her breasts always satisfy you; q
be lost in her love forever.
20 Why, my son, would you be infatuated
with a forbidden woman
or embrace the breast of a stranger? r
21 For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, s
and He considers all his paths. t
22 A wicked man’s iniquities entrap him; u
he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin. v
23 He will die because there is no discipline, w
and be lost because of his great stupidity.
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