Chapters
Proverbs (31 chapters)
Proverbs 5
1
My son, attend to my wisdom. And bow thine ear to my understanding;
2
That thou mayest keep discretion, And that thy lips may preserve knowledge!
3
Truly, 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 lay hold of the under-world.
6
That she may not ponder the way of life, Her paths waver when she heedeth it not.
7
Hear me now, therefore, O children! And turn not away 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 bloom to others, And thy years to a cruel one;
10
Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, And thine earnings be in the house of an alien;
11
And lest thou mourn in thy latter end. When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12
And say, “How have I hated instruction! And how hath my heart despised reproof!
13
I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to my instructors;
14
I have well-nigh fallen into utter misery; In the midst of the congregation and the assembly.”
15
Drink water out of thine own cistern. And running water out of thine own well:
16
So shall thy fountains overflow in the streets, In the wide streets, as streams of water;
17
They shall belong to thee alone, And not to strangers with thee;
18
And thy fountain shall be blessed, Yea, thou shalt have joy in the wife of thy youth.
19
A lovely hind, a graceful doe, Her breasts shall satisfy thee at all times, And thou shalt be always ravished with her love.
20
Why, then, my son, wilt thou be ravished with a wanton, And embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And he weigheth well all his paths.
22
His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked; Yea, he shall be held fast by the cords of his own sins.
23
He shall die for want of instruction; Yea, through the greatness of his folly he shall stagger.