Admonition to Avoid Seduction to Evil57
5:1 My child,1
pay attention to my wisdom,
incline your ear to my understanding,
5:2 in order to safeguard2
discretion,3
and that your lips may guard knowledge.
5:3 For the lips4
of the adulteress woman drip honey,
and her mouth5
is smoother than oil.
5:4 but in the end6
she is bitter7
like wormwood,8
sharp as a two-edged9
sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.10
5:6 Lest11
she should make level the path of life
her paths are unstable,12
but she does not know it.13
5:7 So now, children,14
listen to me;
do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
5:8 Keep your way far15
from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
5:9 lest you give your vigor16
to others
and your years to a cruel person,
5:10 lest strangers devour17
your strength,18
and your labor19
benefit20
another man’s house.
5:11 And at your end you will groan21
when your flesh and your body are wasted away.22
5:12 And you will say, “How I hated discipline!
My heart spurned reproof!
5:13 And I did not obey my teachers23
and my instructors24
I did not heed.25
5:14 Almost26
did I come to complete ruin27
in the midst of the whole congregation.28
5:15 Drink water from your own cistern
and running water from your own well.29
5:16 Should your springs be dispersed30
outside,
your streams of water in the wide plazas?
5:17 Let them be yours,31
yours alone,
and not for strangers with you.32
5:18 May your fountain be blessed,33
and may you rejoice34
because of the wife of your youth.
5:19 A loving doe,35
a graceful deer;
may her breasts satisfy you at all times,
may you be captivated36
by her love always.
5:20 But why should you be captivated,37
my child,38
by an adulteress,
and embrace the bosom of a different woman?39
5:21 For the ways of an individual40
are in front of the eyes of the LORD,
and He weighs41
all his paths.
5:22 His42
own iniquities will capture the wicked,43
and by the cords of his sin he shall be held.44
5:23 He will die because45
there was no discipline;
because of the greatness of his folly46
he will reel.47