Chapter 5
Keep Far Away from an Adulteress
1 My son, pay close attention to my wisdom,
and listen carefully to my discernment,
2 so that you may always act prudently
and your lips may safeguard knowledge.
3 The lips of an adulteress drip with honey
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 go down to death;
her steps lead directly to the netherworld.
6 Far from following the path of life,
she unknowingly wanders off in different directions.
7 So now, my son, listen to me,
and do not stray from the advice that I offer.
8 Keep far away from her
and do not go anywhere near the door of her house,
9 lest you turn over your life to others
and your years to one without mercy,
10 lest strangers grow prosperous on your wealth
and your arduous toil enrich another man’s house.
11 Then, at the end of your life, you will groan
when your flesh and your body are consumed.
12 You will say, “Why did I despise discipline
and allow my heart to spurn correction?
13 Why did I fail to heed the voice of my teachers
and refuse to listen to my instructors?
14 Now I am at the brink of utter ruin
in the midst of the public assembly.”
Rejoice in the Wife of Your Youth
15 Drink the water from your own cistern,
fresh water from your own well.
16 Do not allow your springs to overflow,
gushing forth water into the streets.
17 Let them be for you alone
and not be shared by strangers.
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
19 a lovely deer, a graceful fawn—
let her affection fill you with delight
and ever hold you captive.
20 Why then be seduced by another man’s wife, my son,
and succumb to the embraces of an adulteress?
21 For each man’s ways are observed by the Lord,
and he examines each man’s paths.
22 The wicked man will be ensnared by his own iniquities
and held fast in the bonds of his sins.
23 He will perish for lack of discipline,
condemned by his own excessive folly.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 5:1
- Proverbs 5:3
- Proverbs 5:4
- Proverbs 5:5
- Proverbs 5:10
- Proverbs 5:14
- Proverbs 5:15
- Proverbs 5:15
- Proverbs 5:16
- Proverbs 5:19
