Proverbs 5 Holman Christian Standard Bible

Avoid Seduction

5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
listen closely^[a] to my understanding^(A)
²so that you may maintain discretion
and your lips safeguard knowledge.^(B)
³Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey
and her words are^[b] smoother than oil,
⁴in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood^(C)
and as sharp as a double-edged sword.^(D)
⁵Her feet go down to death;
her steps head straight for Sheol.^(E)
⁶She doesn’t consider the path of life;
she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

⁷So now, my sons, listen to me,
and don’t turn away from the words of my mouth.^(F)
⁸Keep your way far from her.
Don’t go near the door of her house.^(G)
⁹Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others
and your years to someone cruel;
¹⁰strangers will drain your resources,
and your earnings will end up in a foreigner’s house.
¹¹At the end of your life, you will lament
when your physical body has been consumed,
¹²and you will say, “How I hated discipline,
and how my heart despised correction.^(H)
¹³I didn’t obey my teachers
or listen closely^[c] to my mentors.
¹⁴I am on the verge of complete ruin
before the entire community.”

Enjoy Marriage

¹⁵Drink water from your own cistern,
water flowing from your own well.^(I)
¹⁶Should your springs flow in the streets,
streams of water in the public squares?^(J)
¹⁷They should be for you alone
and not for you to share with strangers.
¹⁸Let your fountain be blessed,
and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.^(K)
¹⁹A loving doe, a graceful fawn—
let her breasts always satisfy you;^(L)
be lost in her love forever.
²⁰Why, my son, would you be infatuated
with a forbidden woman
or embrace the breast of a stranger?^(M)
²¹For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes,^(N)
and He considers all his paths.^(O)
²²A wicked man’s iniquities entrap him;^(P)
he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin.^(Q)
²³He will die because there is no discipline,^(R)
and be lost because of his great stupidity.