5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
Listen carefully to my discernment,
2 So that you may guard your thinking abilities
And safeguard knowledge with your lips.
3 For the lips of a wayward woman drip like a honeycomb,
And her mouth is smoother than oil.
4 But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood
And as sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet descend into death.
Her steps lead straight to the Grave.
6 She gives no thought to the path of life.
Her course wanders, but she does not know where.
7 Now, my sons, listen to me
And do not turn away from what I am saying.
8 Stay far away from her;
Do not go near the entrance of her house,
9 So that you may not give your dignity to others
Nor reap years of what is cruel;
10 So that strangers may not drain your resources
And what you labored for go to the house of a foreigner.
11 Otherwise, you will groan at the end of your life
When your flesh and body waste away
12 And you say: “How I hated discipline!
How my heart despised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my instructors
Or pay attention to my teachers.
14 I have come to the brink of complete ruin
In the midst of the entire congregation.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern
And flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be dispersed outside,
Your streams of water in the public squares?
17 Let them be for you alone,
And not for strangers with you.
18 May your own fountain be blessed,
And may you rejoice with the wife of your youth,
19 A loving doe, a graceful mountain goat.
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times.
May you be captivated by her love constantly.
20 So why, my son, should you be captivated by a wayward woman
Or embrace the bosom of an immoral woman?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah};
He examines all his paths.
22 The wicked one is ensnared by his own errors,
And he will be caught in the ropes of his own sin.
23 He will die for lack of discipline
And go astray because of his excessive foolishness.