- 1
- ¶ MY son, attend to my wisdom and incline your ear to my understanding,
- 2
- That you may heed counsel and that your lips may keep knowledge.
- 3
- For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her words are smoother than oil;
- 4
- But the end of her life is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
- 5
- Her feet cause men to go down to death;
her steps take her to Sheol.
- 6
- She does not tread upon the land of the living, her paths are devious, and are unknown.
- 7
- Hear me now therefore, O you children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
- 8
- Remove your way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house;
- 9
- Lest you give your strength to others, and your years to the cruel;
- 10
- Lest strangers be filled with your wealth, and your labors be in the house of strangers;
- 11
- And you have remorse in your old age, when the flesh of your body is consumed,
- 12
- And you say, Why did I hate instruction, and my heart despise reproof,
- 13
- And why have I not obeyed the voice of my teacher, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me?
- 14
- I was in almost all kinds of evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
- 15
- ¶ Drink water out of your own well, and running water from your own spring.
- 16
- Let your water overflow into your streets, let it be disbursed abroad.
- 17
- Let it be for yourself alone, let not strangers be partners with you.
- 18
- Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice in the wife of your youth.
- 19
- Let her be like a loving hind, and pleasant mountain roe;
learn her ways always, and be mindful of her love.
- 20
- My son, be not misled by a strange woman, neither embrace the bosom of a strange woman.
- 21
- For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and all his paths lie open in his presence.
- 22
- The wicked shall be caught by his own iniquities, and he will be bound with the cords of his sins.
- 23
- He shall die without instruction;
and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
|