Pitfalls of Immorality
1My son, give attention to my wisdom,
Incline your ear to my understanding;
2That you may observe discretion
And your lips may reserve knowledge.
3For the lips of an adulteress drip honey
And smoother than oil is her speech;
4But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5Her feet go down to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol.
6She does not ponder the path of life;
Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.
7Now then, my sons, listen to me
And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8Keep your way far from her
And do not go near the door of her house,
9Or you will give your vigor to others
And your years to the cruel one;
10And strangers will be filled with your strength
And your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien;
11And you groan at your final end,
When your flesh and your body are consumed;
12And you say, “How I have hated instruction!
And my heart spurned reproof!
13I have not listened to the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to my instructors!
14I was almost in utter ruin
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
15Drink water from your own cistern
And fresh water from your own well.
16Should your springs be dispersed abroad,
Streams of water in the streets?
17Let them be yours alone
And not for strangers with you.
18Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19As a loving hind and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
Be exhilarated always with her love.
20For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He watches all his paths.
22His own iniquities will capture the wicked,
And he will be held with the cords of his sin.
23He will die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray.