1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; incline thine ear to my understanding; 2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. 3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; 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 on the nether-world; 6 Lest she should walk the even path of life, her ways wander, but she knoweth it not. 7 Now therefore, O ye children, hearken unto me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house; 9 Lest thou give thy vigour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel; 10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in the house of an alien; 11 And thou moan, when thine end cometh, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 12 And say: 'How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 13 Neither have I hearkened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 14 I was well nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.' 15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy springs be dispersed abroad, and courses of water in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth. 19 A lovely hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; with her love be thou ravished always. 20 Why then wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of an alien? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He maketh even all his paths. 22 His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin. 23 He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel. | |